67/ 



CLxL^^, IS 74-. 



ITL,^. 



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aass_£-M. 



Book • D^JL 



NATIONAL ANI> STATK POLITICS. 



y Xf 



^ 



SrEECH OF HON.H. G. 



In Mineral County Convention, on S.iMirday, 
August 15lh, 1874. 



luW„r-Citi-.ri>s find Frinids: — Y"U 
liiivc just broil acklrossed by the Hon. C 
,1. FaiilkiKT, OIK' of the must distiiiu;uii»^i- 
cd men of the State or country. He has 
made a speech worthy of himself and 
llie Democratic party. " His romarlcs on 
civil ris:;lits deserve special notice. I 
liave- heard nearly all the speeces in tli.> 
Senate on this subject— none excelles the 
one just made. This is one of the larj;-est 
countv Conventions 1 have ever attend- 
ed, it is pleasant for me lo meet and 
talk to so many of tho?e who lirst lionor- 
cd me with their eontidenee 1)y electini;- 
me a member of the l.nver branch of the 
Legislature of this State in ISd'), and 
that at a time when the party ^Vils in a 
political minority. From that time you 
iiave constantly favored me, l>y electint;- 
me to the Senate of the; State, imtil the 
year when, the Legislature of the State 
electcvi me on(^ of\our llepresentutives 
ill the iS'ational Coimcils. And I ilesire 
now to express my gratitude for thccon- 
lindence you have sa freequently and 
irencrousl'y reposed in me. You know 
that it is not my habit to make leny;thy 
speeches. But'l feel constrained at this 
time, ill response to numerous calls that 
have been made upon nie, to depart from 



mv usual custom. : If youAvill, tlwrclore, 
iK'ar with me, I "wiU endeavor to give 
you some account of tlni way "national 
aliaiTS are conducted under Ilcpublican 
rule, and so'mo thoughts in reference to 
the policy and future prospect.-^ of the 
Democratic partv of this State. 

You and 1 wifl have work to do be- 
tween now and th(! X)ctober election. A 
thorou;;h ori;anizatioa should be had, and 
a thormioh^i-anvass made if you Avish to 
accomplish, an overwhelming victory. 
It is not enough in time of war to organ- 
v/.i^tm armv ami appoint competent gen- 
erals to command it, and tlicn content 
voiirselves with drcss.paradcs. It will 
not do to content yourselves with the 
tliou-'ht, that !)ecause of a superiority of 
numbers, all you liavetodois to exhibit 
vour number.-i and await thesurfondor ot 
tin- I'liemy. tou must not ex'peet our 
ojiponent's to march into your camp ami 
deliver up their arms without a struggle. 
J f voii expect victory, you must be ag- 
gressive. You must expo.-e their trickery 
and deceit. Y'ou must show our supen- 
oritv as a'partyin P"int of morals, and 
an 'ecomical administration of allaiiv. 
Trt do this succi^ssl'ully you must bo arm- 
ed with (^tHcial facts and tiixures. T hav.- 



2 



,U^6, 



taken iome pain.- to collect together 
some facts and tigures connected with 
the adniinislration of public art'airh by 
the Kepublicaiis, l>oth National and 
State, and if you will bear with nie while 
I tresspass on your patience, 1 will en- 
deavor to present them to you. 



th 



civil, );M;in.s lui-i.. 

Ami 1 will tir.-t call youi- attiniion 
what is known jis Sinnner's Civil Rig 
Bill, beeau.'-e this is tlic nio>l iniquitou 
all the ijiiquities that -the Kepublicans 
'endeavoring to foi^t upon the people,; 
if continued in powci' tliey wjll per 
trate this disgrace as ccilainly as ni: 
succeeds day. The Itiil is sweeping 
its provisions and the ))ena]ties alta<- 
for any violation of" tlie law, are of 
severest chiiracter. The tirst section 
this infamous bill, as it ])assed the Sen 
reads as follow.^: 



'•That all citi/.en> and ..iher jxt.-uiis 
witliin the jui-isdietion <jf the United 
States shall be entitled to fui 1 and equal 
enjoyment of the acconunodations, ad- 
vantages, faeilitios and priviliges of pub- 
lic conveyances on land or water, thea- 
tres «r other public placies of amust;- 
ment, and also of the common schools 
and public in.stitutions of letu'ning or 
benevolence, snp))orte,d in whole ur in 
part by general taxation, and of ceme- 
teries so suppoi'ted, and also institutions 
known as aggricuU^iral colle'o-es (endowed 
In- the United ^States, subject only to the 
conditions and limitations established by 
the law and applicable alike to citizens of 
every race and color I'Cgardless of any 
previous ('ondition of servitude.' 

The second section provides a iicnalty 
of $500 and costs to be paid the aggriev- 
ed party, and further nnikes any viola- 
tion of the piovisions Of the lirstsection, 
a misdemeanoi-, punishable witli aline of 
notmorethan $1,000 — or imin-isonnimt 
jiot more than one year. 

The third section gives the district and 
circuit courts of the United States c.xclu- 
bivc cog'nizancw of all' vi(dations of llu' 
provisions of this ait. Thus dejn-iving 
the State Courts of all power in the 
premises. 

Tile fourth section ))rovidos that no 
person sliall be diMjualilied on account of 
color, previous condition, Ac., from ,-orv- 
ing as grand or petit juror in any <ourt 
of the United States, and make the failure 
of^ny officer who excludes siicli per>on' 



from iuch service, a misdemeanor, pun- 
ishable with .il,000 line. 

The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 
2it to l(j — ^^almost two to one. And yet 
when it was introduced in the Senate, it 
met with hardly any countenance or 
favoi'. But lindiiig their powei- continu- 
ed, the leader of the Ile])ublican party 
concluded to father this infamy, and m> 
pulled the party lines, and the obedient 
rank and tile obeying the command, the 
bill was rushed through. The Democra- 
cy made a vigcrou> effort to prevent iIk^ 
passage of this fraud upon the people, but, 
being in a hopeless minority, they could 
tlo nothing but stave it oft' as long a^ 
possible. They .-bowed the uncon^titu- 
tioiiiility of the act; they argued again-t 
its iinpractibility; they imjdored the 
Radicals to refrain from lhi> crowning 
indignity upon- the Southern and border 
Stales, but all in vain. Thcnthey tried 
U) dfday, by resorting to evei-y parlia- 
mentary tactic po,ssible, but the Eeputili- 
cans were too strong for them, and after 
an all day and night's session they sue- 
ce(xled in putting on the gag law and 
forcing its passage. This bill, it is true, 
iuis not yet passed the House, but it 
failed simply for want of a sufBcieiil 
luunber of votes to suspend the rules and 
put it upon its passage. TheBepublican- 
voted for this suspension almost to a man, 
but foilu,natcly, by calling ttie yca> and 
nays, »S;c., thi' Democrats were enabled to 
d(!feat the bill for the present. But it i- 
on the calendar in such a pcjsition that it 
can be called up for ))assage at any day 
next session the Kepublican party may 
clnn^se. Its linal passage depend.- in my 
ojiinion, on the results of the election,- 
thi^ tall. If the Bei)ublicans are .suc- 
cessful the bill will be pas-ed, because the 
ilepublicaii representative.- will take 
their suci'ess as an endoi'sement of the 
measure by tiie people. If, however, the 
manhood of the country rises up against 
this petty persecution; if the J^emocracv 
exert themselves to acti^>n, and througli 
th(! ballot box, by the election of true, 
men opposed to negro supriwnacy, ("n^'sar- 
ism and nepotism, notify the Bepublican 
party thai its tenure of ])ower i- hi'ld by 
i)Ul a slender thread, and thattli«« jieojjle 
will not stand tliis infringement upon 
their rights, the liill will ])robably die an 
early death as it should. And even if 
they <'an secure a majority in the lower 
braiich of Congress, tliey cun by an unil- 
ed ertort destroy tlie large uuijority henu 
tofore jiadby the Kepublicans, and check 



(^ 



^ Jo .1 Iar2;p oxtciit, tlio orowmt; tenden- 
.^^.'ics of the Republieaii ]i:irtyin tbo dirop- 
tioii I have nanifil. 

ThP stroiis,-('it (ihji'dioii to tlii-- \>\\\-- 
although thi' wlml.- I.ill i> iillcrlv nl)jrc- 
^ -tiunablo in nil it- ]t:irt< — i-^'it< ln-afiiii;- 
^"^on the c'oninioii >chool svsli'in ol' the 
•-Southern and border States. The whoh' 
Xf«^. hope of the risint!; t!;eni'ration i« in the 
I'dimnon scliool system. Tt is witli great 
ditReulty that hirge -flasscs .,f ppoph; in 
tlit'se States, onee in atttucnt cirennistnn- 
c't's, are enabled toprovido tlic lu-ccssaries 
<>f life, let alone send tlieii- children otf 
to costly schools. Already the mere im- 
pending shadow of this hill has cast its 
>j,l(iom, and is retarding theschool systems 
.if many of these States. If this hill 
passes, the school system will he utterly 
ruined, and there will be no general 
chool appropriations, exc£?pt here and 
there. What think those of you who 
earn your living by "the sweat of your 
brow," and to whom the common free 
s^chools of this State are a priceless boon, 
ejiabling ^'T)U to educate y()ur children, 
and give them a start in life, of the party 
that attempts to force such a bill as this 
down the. throat of the public school 
system, and thus strangle it to death? 
iiven the proliability of its passage has 
done an immense amount of harm. I 
notice in the papers that the State Super- 
intendent of Tennessee has already is- 
sued a circular addressed to the county 
superintendents,&c.,|throughout the State, 
advising that no new contracts with 
teachers of either white or corored schools 
tie entered into by school directors, imtll 
the fate of this bill be determined. The 
jmssage of this bill woidd be the greatest 
calamity that could possil)ly befall the col- 
n]-('d people themselves. For it will not 
only deprive the children of poor wliite 
people of an education, for all time to conu> 
but rhoscoftlic colored people also. The 
wealthy, of course, will not sutter, be- 
("nuse they can patronize private schools. 
And just here, f will add testimoTi\' 
from a Radical source: Senator W. G. 
Hrownlow, commonly known as Parson 
Hrownlow, and who has been, anfi is, 
identified with the Kepublican party as 
one of its most radical members, in a 
letter addrrssed to Rev. Dr. Bartlett, 
I'resjdf^nt of the Mai'yville College, Ten- 
nessee, in r(^ference to the passage of this 
bill, denounces the measure in unqualifi- 
ed term*, and says the bill might appro- 
printely be termed "A bill for the en- 
couragement of riot and chaos in the 



Southern States, and for the humiliation 
of the widows, and the oppression of the 
orphans of the South." 

But these are not all the evils. " A 
feeling of returning loyalty which was 
growing in the South, will die out, and 
one of hostility to the (TovernmeiU will 
take its place. 

Another evil that would re>uh tVom 
this bill, if a law is its possible eltect 
upon the minds of 8(»U,(K>0 ignorant 
voters, in sprejiding delusions as to the 
powers and duty of (Congress, and as 
to the-means by which social e(|uality is 
to be obtained. For it teaches and leads 
to social equality, as well as j)olit;cal 
equality, turn it which way you may. 
And that this is the purpose of th(we 
who are pressing this bill m?iy be infer- 
red from the speeches of some of tlie 
prominent advocates of it in the Senate 
and elsewhere. As a sample I quote 
from a speech delivered in the Senate by 
Senator Boutwell, on the21i5t of May, on 
this bill: 

"A system of public instruction sup- 
ported by general taxation is security. 
first, for the prevalence and continuance 
of those ideas of equality which lead every 
human bemg to recognize every other 
human being as an equal in all natural 
and political rights; and the only way 
by which those ideas can be made uni- 
versal is to bring together in public 
schools, during the former period of life, 
the children of all classes, and educate 
them together. 

"The public schocil is an epitome of 
life-, and in it children are taught so that 
they luiderstand thos*^ lelations and con- 
ditions of life which, if not acquired in 
childhood and youth, are not likely af- 
terwards to be gained. To say as is the 
construction placed upon so much of this 
bill as I ]iroposi' to >trike out, that equal 
facilities shall be given in ditferi'nt 
schools, is to rob your system of public 
instrvK'tion of that, quality by which our 
people, without regard to race or color, 
shall be assimilated in ideasj personal, 
and public, so that when they arrive at 
the period of manhood they shall act to- 
gether upon y)ublic questions with ideas 
fornu'd under the same infiuences, &c." 

Mr. Botwell's effort was to enforce 
such close associations of the races, es- 
pecially in the primary schools, that 
they, would learn to love one anothor; 
that by early contai-t, thi' T-epugnace of 
one race to the other might be over- 
come, ami that in time tliev mii>:hl be pro- 



4- 



})ai'ed for the great oonsuniation by which 
ijie two alien races may be inixecl in one. 

And again: A cgnvention of colored 
mt'ij was held in Washington last winter 
to take national acton in reference to this 
hill, and one of their prominent nn-m- 
bers and orators, a ]V[r. Clark of v)iiio, 
addressed the cimvention thereon. To 
show what these people demand as their 
rights, I quote from his speech: "We 
want no <'lored schools; we want no 
white schools; what we want is free 
schools for everyone. "\A> want the 
white children of the land to have the 
privilege of -setting by the side of the 
colorcil children in our schools, that these 
jirejiulices may be overcome in early life." 
This extract is taken from a report of the 
}.roceedings, published in the "Washington 
CJirnnJdc; a llepublican newspaper. " 

Why the Jiepublicrn ])arty sh'iuld 
deem it necessary to the jieace and hap- 
piness of the colored race to force mixed, 
chools upon the people, 1 cannot imagine 
')r conjecture. If it is intended as" a 
fnilher ]mnishment to the fS(jnthern and 
border States, it will fall far short of its 
mark, because it will not etlect the pres- 
ent generation — I mean the older por- 
tion, of course, — but it will debar the 
thousands of children of these t^tates, 
black as well as white, fi-oni the advant- 
'age of a free school educiftion. And it 
may.be noticed in tins connection, that 
there are over a million of colored chil- 
dren now receiving free school instruction. 

As another illustration ofthe beauties of 
eivil rights, I quote from the constitutions 
of several Southern States the provisions 
as to schools, voting tV'c, and it will be re- 
membered that these i)rovisioiis were 
made a precedejit of the (almi>i»<ion intn 
Ihe r;/(o« of these States, by a Jladicjil 
('oiigress, and the act admitting these 
Stales provides that these ])rovisions in 
their constitutions shall not be changed, 
except by and with the consent of 0(Sn- 
gress. The quotations in i-.-latiuii U< 
schools are as follows: 

Louisiana -The General .A-semblv 
shall tvtablisli nt least one free public 
school in every parish throughout the 
State, and shall provide for its support bv 
taxation and otlierwise. All children <if 
thi:; tjfute, between the ages of six (()) hjkI 
twenty-'on(! (21) shall be'admitti-d to the 
publie. schools or other institutions of 
leiirniiig sustained or established by the 
State in <'ommon, without distinction of 
race, color, or jirevioiiscondilion. 'J'here 
shall be no sjiernte s.j N or in-tili;(i..ri- 



of learning- established exclusively for 
any race by the State of Louisiana." Ar- 
i'lcLe, 135, (hnsfitn/ioti. 

NouTH Carolina — The Ccn, ral A-- 
sembly, at its lirstsession under tlii> con- 
stitution, shall jirovide, by taxation ;ind 
otherwise, for a general and uiiilorm 
system of public schools, wherein tuilion 
shall be free of charge to a// the ehil.lr.'i, 
of the State between the age of six (.0) 
and twenty-one (21 ). year-. Srr. 2, AH. 
IX, Coi>stitii/io)i. 

Florida — It is«the jiaramount duty ol 
th(^ State to make ample ))ro\ision for 
the educatiou of all the >'hildi-en residing 
within its Ijordeis, without distinction or 
preference. .SVr. 1, .■!/•/. \] W^CoilsHIkCi,,,,. 

The Legislature .shall provide a uni- 
form system of (Himinon schools, and a 
university, and .shall provide for the 
liberal maintonance of the same. Tn- 
struetiou in them shall l>e free. Src l! (.f 
.same. 

GiCoiioiA — The (ieneral .Vs.sciubly at 
its liast session after the adoption(>f this 
constitution, shall ])rovi(l(^ a- thorough 
system of gjMieral edut-ation, to be_/'i«-<(r; 
free, fudli chiUh-iMi >d' the State, "the ex- 
l)ense of whiili shall be provided for .by 
taxation or olliurwi-e. ,SVy-. 1, ,1/7. ]\', 

(Altl.sfUldin/l. 

South CAiioi.ixA — It shall be the 
duty of the General Assembly to provide 
for the (-(inijiK/sor// (ttir/tdoncc, at either 
])ublic or private schools, of fill children 
between the ages of six (G) and si\teen(lG) 
years luit phisically or mentally disjUjled, 
for a tcVm equivalent totwenly-four (•_'!) 
months, :it least; l^ror'ulrtl, Tlial no law 
to that etfect shall be ]ia--e(l until 
a system of public schools has been 
thoroughly and com|)letely organized 



and facilities atfonled to all 
tants of the State loi' the fn 



ilntbi- 
■ation 



•I, Arl. \, ('■'.„- 

and 
sup))orted ill 
public fund 



of their chntlren. ,SV,'. 
stihtikni. 

All the publi(r .schoo 
universities of this State, 
whole or in jjart by the 
shall be free and open to all the children 
and youths of the State, without regard 
to rari' or color. Src. 10 of same. 

Arkansas — A general dill'iision of 
knowhtdge and intelligence among all 
classes being essential to the preserva- 
tion of the rights and liberties of 
tlie people, tho General Assembly shall 
estai)li<li and mantain u system of free 
schools for the gratuitous instruc- 
tijui of (ill persons in this State 
between tile ages of live (.')) and 



twciitv-oiic (21) real's. Hcc. 1, Arl. IX, 

'Till' (j'cncral Aasemhlij ahall rcijuirr. hy 
Idir iliitt ci-i'ry child of ■•iitj/icieiit inonal 
(uii/ ]i/ii/sicfd (ihilUii s/iaU (lite)id llin i)ul)- 
lif schools diiriim tlu- ]i(M-iod between the 
ages of live (5J niul ei^liteeii .(IS) years, 
for a t(!nu efjuivah'iit to throe yeart^, un- 
less educatetl by other means. Sec. G,. 
Art. IX, 'o/' .H(ime.. 

Ai.AliA.MA — It shall he Ihe duty of the 
hoard. to establish, Ihmughout th(! State, 
in each township, oi- (ithei- school district 
which it may have created, one or nion> 
schools, iit whicii nil the < hildren of the 
Slate between the :ii;-es of live (.j) snul 
twent^'-one (21) yf^ars, may attend free of 
cliarge. Sec. (i, Art. XI, 'Otiistitidioti. 

Those in relntion to voting, &c., are as 
follows: 

ALABAirA~"All pei'sons •before regis- 
tering mnst take, and subscribe the fol- 
lowing oath: 'I, , do solemnlj- 

swear (or affirm) ••■ ® * thatl 

aecejit the civil and political equality of 
all men, and agree not to attempt to de- 
prive any person or persons, on account 
of race, color, or previt)us condition, of 
an }• political or civil right, privilege, or 
immunity enjoyed bj' anj' other class of 
men," etc. (hnsldutio)i, Art. YII, Sec. 4. 

Akkansas^"JZ^ p<!rsons before ir</i';- 
trri)i(/ or fotrnfj, must take and subscribe 

the following oath: 'I, , do S(d- 

(!mnly swear (or adirm) • * * * * * 
tbat I accept the civil and political equal- 
ity of all men, and agree not to attcjmpt 
to tleprive any pcsrson or porsoiuss, on ac- 
count of race, ccdor or pre\'ious condition, 
of any political or civil^right, privilege 
or immunity enjoyed by a^iy otliei' class 
of men,' " etc. (hnstltniion', Arl. ^' II 1, 
Sec. 5. 

]\I ississii'Pi — "Th(! Legislature shall 
provide, by law, for the registration of all 
per.sons entitled to vote at any election, 
and all persons entitled to register sbiill 
take and sub.scribe to the following oath 

or affirmation : 'I, , do solemnly 

swear (or affirm,) iu the prescMice of Al- 
mighty (ilod, * » «■ that I udndt the 
^.lo^^Vtci/^ and civil equality of all men. So 
help me God." Cumtilnlion, Arl. \'ll, 
See. ;}. - 

ViKoiNiA — "All persons, before enter- 
ing >ipon the discharge of any functions 
as olilcer.s of this State, nuist take and 
subscribe the following oath or allirma- 

tion: 'I, , do solemnly swwtr (or 

affirm) * « * « tliat I recogni/.e 
and accept the civil and jwlHical equality 
of all men before the law, etc. So lielp 



me God.' " Comtiiution, Art. 1 II, Ncr. G. 

Louisiana — "Members of tlu' Gen- 
eral Asseinblj', and alb other officers, he- 
fore they enter upon the duties of their 
offices, shall take the following <>:dh or 
affirmation.: '1, (A. !{.,) do solemnly 
swear (or affirm) that 1 accept the cird- 
and ■jHtlilieid. equality of all men, and 
agret^ not to aiten)i)t to depriw any ))er- 
son, or per.«;on.s, on account of i-ace, <'olor, 
or priivious condition, of any jiolitical or 
civil right, privileges, or immunit.v *^''i- 
joyed by any otlnu- cla.ss of men, etc So 
help mi! God.'" Omstiiuiion,. Title YI. 
Art. 100. ." .• 

So you will see nearly all the Constitu- 
tions of tliese Southern States are ba.scfl 
on this idea of negro equality, .and an 
oath to support them is roade a. condition 
more or less of eitizi'iiship under tliem. 
Therefore, no citi/.en from the noilh, east 
or west, not in favor ot negro equalRy, 
can move to any of these States, as I'e- 
constructed l)y Congre.s.s, Avithout dis- 
franchismg himself. Even a Union man, 
unless he swore that he believed a negro 
to b(! his equal, could iu)t vote in one of 
these States. But I nuist hasten on to 
another ellort that is being made in this 
direction. I refer fo what is known as 
iio.vu'.s sciiooi. ni 1,1.. 

This is a bill introduced in the House 
of Iiepre.-'eidati\e?; by Mr. Hoar, a .Kadi- 
cal from .Massaduisetls, and he has given 
it the lofty tith^ of, "A bill to establish a 
system of iiational 'eilucation.' 1 have 
not time to di.scuss this bill in all its 
bciU'ing.s, and so must conti'ut myself 
with reading portions of i1, whi.h must 
fully e.K.plain its meaning.' It will be 
seen that the jnirport of the hill is to 
take away from tlu; States the right to 
control their own schools, and to place 
them under natiomil control, juid for the 
purpos(! of keeping them in opcr.ation 
and paying the nunieivnis ..Hicials. A 
direct ta.v vi' JiJ'li/ millions of d.jllars is 
provided for in tlic hill. 

The .sections ami parts <•!' Cclioiis I 
refer to, areas follows: 
A Hill to PHahli.sh a System of National 

iMhication. 

That there shall he (i/ijmiideil hfthe 
President, by and with the advice ftnd 
consent of the Senate, within and for 
each State, a St.att! Supei'inti-ndi'nt of 
Natiomil Schools, who shall receive a sal- 
ary of three thoiisond dollars per airiniDi. 
ami who shall hold office for the term of 
ibur j-ears from tin.' dale of his apjioinl- 
ment, unless sooner removed by the 
President. 



6 



Skc. 2. Ainlhr -,1 fnrfhcr r„(,rh'</, 'I'Jmt 
tlio .State siipcrintcnilcnt .-^IimII divi.lo \\\< 
State into as many division.'^ of con von i- 
iMitsizfas llio nunil)M- of rppro.«c'nt!itivis 
iiiC'oii<;T<'-;s to wliich-said Stato isfntitlcd, 
wliich divisions shall lip tho same a- liii' 
districts into which -^nid Slnlc siiall he 
divided t;.r the dioicc ,,r r.-jircMMitativ. s, 
unless for special reasons it shall seem 
advisahle ntlicrwise to divide the State. 
The Seeretai y ol' the Interior shall a]i- 
jioint Un- each of said diSisions a division 
inspector of national schools, who shall 
i-eside within said division, and who shall 
hold his otlice until removed hv the Sec- 
retary of the Interior, and who shall re- 
eeive a salaryof /(/■., Ilninsaiid dnUar.tpcr 
(iiimoii. 

Sec. ;5. Ami hr ]l Jitrihn- oHidni That 
said divisions shall l)e divided hv the 
State Superinteiulent into school districts 
of convenient si/.e, havinaj riderence to 
the nuiulter of children dwelling therein, 
and theii' convenience in attending 
school. The Secretary of the Interior 
shall appoint some suitable person to be 
local su])erintendent of national schools 
within said district. The comjiensation 
of said local superiutcndent shall he fixed 
hy the Secretary of the Interior by such 
general regulations as he shall ))rescribe. 

Sec. 4. Aiid be if fmiher cjtdcled, That 
sucli nundier of schools shall be kept in 
each district as the State -^u^nM-inlcndenl 
shall direct; Providh/, That there shall 
he opportunity afforded to inri/ didd 
dwelling therein hetween tlie ages of f-i\ 
and eighteen to attend school for at least 
"^i-x months in each year, snhject to such 
regulations and restrictions as vhall he 
necessary for the discipline of the sj'hools. 

Skc. r,". Andhi' if fiiilhcr riidcfrd. That 
it shall he llie dnfv of cverv loc.nl .-\i|.im-- 
mteiiflen't to seh'ct the place f.r the 
srhooi house within his di^triei, which he 
slinll purchase or hire in the nnine ><\' lie- 
I'niti-d States. No contrait for >ucli 
purchase or iiire shall be concluded with- 
out thi^ written approh.ation ot' the State 
^superintendent. In ca-^e no suilahle 
place can he ohlaini-d with the runsi'ti/ o|' 
the oi///('/-, the division in -peetor may ap- 
propriate a traf.-t of .such puipii e hy tiling 
a desci'iptioj' the same, hy mcle^ nnd 
hound^, in ihc' clerk's oHice of the ili-- 
trict ••oinl of the (fnilcd Staler wherein 
the same i-^ situated, togcthei- with an 
c'^tiinate of the damages cui'^^ed to any 
)>ert-on liy taking the sairic, which appro- 
priation and eutimate sliall he firsi ap- 
proved by the Slate rupennlendent and 



shall then lie recorded liy said clerk in r 
hook to 1)1' kept for that purpose. From 
the dale of said filing, the title of said 
tract of land ^hall vest in the Tnited 
States. 

Si^c. (;. A I'd t,r if fnrfhrr cuacfcl^ That 
the school hooks to Ix' used in all the na- 
tional schools shall he such as are. prc- 
sci'ihed hy the said superintendent, under 
the direction of the Cominissioner of 
Education. They >hall be furnished by 
the State su)ierintendent to the division 
inspector, and hy the latter tothe local in- 
spector, for the children within his dis- 
trict, and hy him distributed to them at 
cost; I'fiiridt'd, That if any child is un- 
able to pay the cost of the books needed 
and used by it the .-anie shall be furnished 
gratuitouslv. 

Sec. 7. And hr ,7 furfhr,- nuivfnl. That 
it shall be the duty of the local superin- 
tendent to provifle for the care and pro- 
te<'tion and repair of the school houses, 
and to procure fuel therefor, wh(^re ne- 
cessary. If it shall be necessary to erect 
a schoid house in any district, the local 
superintendent shall contract for the 
same, the contract therefor to receive the 
approbation of the State superintendent 
before it shall be binding. 

Skc. 8. Avd I)f if fiirflu-r rmicfid. That 
file local superintendent shall select and 
contract with the teacher or teachers for 
1 he -schools within his district, at a rale 
and lor a perod' of tim(> to hi; approved 
by till' State Superintendent. 

in th(^ performance of all the <;utie- 
]irovided r>y this act, the local superin- 
tendent shall be t:ubect to the directions 
of the division inspector, tlie division in- 
spectcn' to those of the State Supcrinteml- 
cut, and theState superintendent ^hall b.- 
subject to the direction- o| the Coinmi-- 
sioncr of Kilu>eation. 

Skc. l:;. A/idl)r ;f fi<rf/,fr I'liiirfrd, That 
the ( 'oirimissioner of Ed\ication shall 
annually rejiort to Congress the condi- 
tion of the national schools in each State, 
together with such suggestions concern- 
ing the same !is he shall deem imjiortant. 
J/, -hall al-o, from time to tiim', prc^rrdir 
such rule- a- he shall think lit lor the 
goveriiiuenl'of the State luiil local -uper- 
jutendcnts and division inspectois in ac- 
complishine; the jiurpose cd' this act. 

Skc. 14. Atid tie if ' fiirfher niiir/eif. 
That the Secretary of the Treasury shall 
prescribe' such rules, in I'onformity to 
law, as shall in his judgment be nece-' 
■^ary to provide for the pnymenl of teach- 
er ! J'or iantl, chool hou-es, and other cb- 



jeots herein provided fbr; and may re- 
quire such voucherri frc-m any of the offi- 
cers herein provided for ab may be ne- 
cessary to insure security in the appliea- 
'tioh of moneys so paid. 

Si:i'. lo. And he it further nuirfril, 
That a direvt tax ol' f/tu niilli(>ii> of dol- 
lars is hereby laid upon the United •Stales, 
and the same shall be proportionetl anmnj;- 
the States, respectively, in the mannei' 
following: 

Sue. IG. A/iil Ije it further riKietrd, 
That the said tax shall be assessed and 
collected in the mode prescribed for the 
collection of .the direct tax in tlie forty- 
tifth chapter of the acts of the lirst ses- 
sion of the thirty-seventh Congress and 
the acts in addition thereto; Froc-idoi, 
That tlie assessors and collectors who are 
now, or may hereafter be, charged by law 
with the duty of assessing or collecting 
the internal revenue shall assess and col- 
lect the tax herein pi'ovided, and the col- 
lection districts for the as^esBniciit antl 
collection of the direct tax shall be the 
same as are now, or may hereafter be, 
established for the assessment and collec- 
tion of said revenue. The dwelling house 
and lot of land on whii'h the same stands, 
constituting the homestead of any house- 
holder having a family, and actually 
owned by him or her, shall be exemptetl 
from such tax to the value of one thous- 
and dollars. 

If this bill becomes a law, by the same 
principle Congress can supervise yoiu" 
county aflairs, and place your county 
roads and bridges luidcj' the supervision 
of a detailed officer of the U. S. engineer 
corps. It can superintend the laying of 
your levies, and appoint your justice's and 
•■onstables, and fix their coinpcnsati<ni. 
If this passes there is no telling when 
and where Congress will stop. 

As an instance of the determination of 
these Radicals to reguiate our State 
affairs, I make one more quotation, the 
object of which is patent to all. On the 
25th of May last, Mr. Stewart, a Kailical 
Senator from Navada, introduced the 
following amendment to the Constitu- 
tion of the United States, to be known 
as the Sixteenth Amendment: 

Article XVI. "If any State >.iiall fail 
to maintain a c^)mmon school system, 
under which all persons between the ages 
of five and eighteen years not incapaci- 
tated for the same shall receive, free <'>f 
fharge, such elementary education a> 
Congress may prescribe, the Congress 
shall have j^'-'^'-'^i' *■'-' establish therein 



- uch a i;y:.tem, and cause the same to he 
maintained at the expense of such State.'' 

This wat- read twice and referred to the 
Judiciary Committee, where it now re- 
mains, awaiting the requite of the elec- 
tions thi.s fall. 

Let mc liini your alt"niiun now for a 
short time to the condition ol' some of 
our Southern States, under Kadica! rule. 
And I'll lii>t notice. 

l.oLlslAN A. 

This stale, wiih probably the excep- 
tion of .South Carolina, has suffered more 
largely at the hands of the party in 
power than any other. The ooiiditi(">n of 
this once prtiud and prosperous State, is 
a disgrace to civilization, and a burning 
shame to our country. 1 will ncit havn 
time to mention all tiu; abuses and cor- 
ruption that have brought this state 'of 
things about, hut nuist content myself by 
givijig you a few instances only. " 

1 know you are all fully awjuainted 
with tkV' newspaper accounts of the infa- 
mies perpetrated in this Slate, under the 
administration of Durrell, Casey, Piick- 
ard, Kellogg and their like, so it will not 
be necessary for me to go into a detailed 
account of the manner in whi.h they 
have obtained control and are now con- 
trolling that State. Indeed I could not 
trespass on your time to do so, so I'll 
give but a brief resume of their crimes. 
There was n general election held in thi„ 
State in Movcmber, 1872, for Governor, 
Lieutenant Governor, A,c. This election 
was conducted without I'iot, disturbance 
or violence, and the number of votes cast 
was unusually large. The candidates for 
(Governor were AVni. Pitt Kellogg and 
John ZVlcEnery. On the counting of the 
\otes by the proper election officers it 
was found thai (he Greeley eledoral 
ticket had carried the State, and that the 
I'usion lieke^ headed by McEnery for 
Governor and a majority of tlie fusion 
candidates for the. Legislature had also 
b(!en duly elected. This did not suit (he. 
carpet-baggers and cormorants who had 
fastened on that pt)or Slate, like si) inaiiv 
leeches. A little life, blood yet remained 
in the almost prostrated C\)mnion wealth, 
;ind they determined t«) extract it all. 
Their motto was not "rule or ruin, " but 
"rule and ruin," or "better rri(/u in hell, 
than .serve in Heaven." But the majority 
of votes was against tlieui. Now the. 
question arose, what is to be done iibout 
it? It did not take those unprincipled 
men long to find a way. The election 
laws of Louisiana were framed by carpel 



8 



bao-gers, solely to promote and cover up 
election frauds. Uutil the point of as- 
certaining and det'laring the tinal result 
u, reached, the Governor, fi>r the tinlc 
beins^, exercises almost arbitrary ])o\ver.-. 
But Governor Warmotli was about to 
oivc certificates to the parties regularly 
elected, and it wouldn't do to trust liis 
Board. So they urganixied a bogus 
Bt^ard, with one John Lynch at tlie head 
of it, known as the "Lyiuli Board,'' and 
through tlieir instrum^jiitality, doctored 
the election returns aiul, assisted by 
thou.^auds of false. alVuhivits, fuiiiislicd 
by Svpher, Blovec, aiul others, set asi.h' 
X\u'. will and vote of tlie people, declan:d 
Ki'llogg elected (Jovernor, and gaye the 
electoral vote of the State to (ien. Grant. 
Although the returns showed that 
31cEncrv was electcid by stnne 8,000 
votes, vet this "liViich Board" returiu^d 
the niajoriiv of Kellogg at 18,000. But 
this wa's not all. The McEuery govern- 
ment, as it was called, having been le- 
«-allv elected, and being about to take 
contV.>l of the State, they found it neces- 
sary to counteract this move in some way. 
So "they found a willing tool in Judge 
Durell of the Federal "Court, in ISew 
Orleans. This judge, without a shadow 
ol jurisdiction, at a late hour at night 
out of coiut, at his private residence, 
is-.sued an order and stopped the ilcKnery 
Legislature from convening and organ- 
izuig, and organized the Kellogu." JiCgis- 
lature by a viain'niHus and injunction. 
And he' did tiiis by the aid of federal 
bayonets; and that Kellogg government 
is to-dav supported and kept in power by 
United "state.- troops. The Ki'llogg gov- 
ernment re.>ts to-day, not upon the a.-cer- 
tained result of the^:lection, buB upon a 
canvass confessed to b<-. fraudulent and 
void, and the .support given to it by the 
fedi'ral gov(!rnMu;nt. 

And now a few word:; as to the manner 
in which the. bogus "Lyn.eh Board" ascer- 
tained the residt of the election. The 
Warmolli I'xiard having jxi.'isessiiin of 
the h'gal returns, (lie fiynch Board was 
compelled to take what.^ver irregular 
returns it could get. Upon the plea 
that the votes of a larg<! numlier ot ne- 
•irof^ bad been rel'used, they called for 
itlidavits of tiie faet, and they were 
-ui.pii.d Willi thousands, sigmtl by a 
miiik, and with ballots attaeli.-l. Th.' 
nntn wh.. ix'rfornu-d this <lelii;htful and 
delicate duty of furni.>,hing alliiiavit.'--, was 
one Gaptain Ja(|U<-.^, from whoso swon 
te.-timony. giv<ii brf.irethe ('ongrcPS=" 



Investigating Committee, I will rjjad. 
you a few extracts. In answer to ques- 
tions by the following gentlemen he gave 
the following answers: 

Witness issued about 000 duplicate 
registration papers after the registration 
closed; on the day of election issued about 
loO more; went to New Orleans after 
th(! election and then returned to sign 
affidavits; signed the names of 300 per- 
sons to the affidavits. 

By 31r; Carpenter — Did not sign them _ 
in the presence of the. parties; they att- ' 
tliori/.etl him to sign. 

iiy (Jovernor "\Varmoth-rSigned 1,:^14 
affidavits in all; took the. names of all 
but 300 from the poll list; the Ccmimis- 
sioner sigiu'd the affidavits in blank. 

By iMr. Carpenter— Signed 1,000 names 
to 1,000 affidavits; numy of the names 
were men of .straw; can't tell liow many 
names of existing persons he signed; 
presume he signed 150 nan\es of existing 
parties without authority ; did not know 
that it was forgery. 

My ilr. Morton — Got the affidavits 
from General Syphcr; signed them in 
New Orleans; got the 300 names by go- 
ing from plantation to plantation; some 
said that they could iu)t vote because 
there was such a crowd at the polls,; oth- 
ers that thei-oUs were from ten tothirty- 
iive miles oil', and they could not go to 
them; United States "Marshall Trescott 
said to the men, aftering the reading of 
the allidavivt, "You swear;"' on the lOlh 
of l)cc<Mnber received a lettt-r from Sy- 
phcr telling him to fetch down all the 
ailblavits you have got, the General i.- 
-100 short-^ gave the alhdavits to .Mr. 
Bovee, who said, "Jai)Ues, you're a hell 
of a h'llow;" witimss answered that he 
could get 'more by ten o'clock in the 
morning; told the "General and Captain 
Svpher about the way the alUdats were 
i{n[. and they apju-oved'it; General Syjiher 
asked how "many nanu'S were-on the book; 
1 (witiu'ss) answered ■1,(UH); told him to 
get :5,5ttO affidavits; the day before Sy- 
pher went to Washington he told witm-ss 
lo iivi at least b'JOO affidavits and a> 
many more as he e.ndd; Ayhen Sypher 
rrlurned. he said he had done well; m 
:silS and 1870, at tlie polls, names were 
imlon the registration lists for the p\u-- 
pose of electing Sypher; the paii.-h was 
. Democratic,, it wa.s common talk m tlu- 
j Gu^tom house all'er the recent election 
I that it did not nmUr any dilference how 
• the election w(^nt, .'noiigh affidavits could 
i I... .j-,,t t.. eli.ct tlie ticket. 



By Mr. Carpei'itor — Tlie affidavit.'; were 
printed ten or tifteeii day.s before the 
'•lection. fExliibitcd ueopyof affidavit* 
-iu;ned hv Prcj^cott in l)Iitnlc".) 

By 3rr. Truijil. till— Had about 2,000 
siieh affidavits; tliey were sii^iicd .-it wit- 
nesse's house iu New (Orleans. 

By .Mr. Morton — Had no official sta- 
tion at that time; received no compensa- 
tion for liis woriv; had been in the Cus- 
tom house, and Syplicr and Casey prom- 
ised to reinstate him; got -SI 50 t(> pay for 
the boat lie used fromSypher; it was the 
s;ime boat. used by the llepulilic'au {'<>i\\- 
mittee for party purpn.ses. 

Xot satistied\vith these forged affida- 
vits the Lynch Board went to work to 
doctor the returns, .such as they could 
get, and this Is a. sample of h.">w thev 
did it: ".'• • •■ 

In the parish of Eo.ssier the returns 
showed that McP]nry had 953 votes and 
Kellogg 555. By their ciphering thev 
gave Kellogg 1.159 votes, and 3icEnrv 
none. In the parish of Natchitoches the 
returns .showed that ]\IcEnrv had l;loO, 
and Kellogg had 550. Tliey ciphered 
again, and lo! and behold! Kellogg had 
1.206 votes and McP^nry — none." Was 
there ever such arithmeticians? Yet 
this board is not satisfied with even this 
nice way of electing their men. For, as 
the testimony iu this ease shows, the 
Board, not sat'istied with the duplicate re- 
turns obtained from the United States 
officials; not satisfied with forged affida- 
vits; not satisfied with newspaper ac- 
eounts (which they used); made an esti- 
mate based on their (the Board's) knowl- 

• •dge of the political complexion of the 
country, as to what the vote ought to have 
been, if it had been fair, and counted it ac- 

• ordingly. 

And yet in spite of all these facts be- 
ing proven; in spite of the fact tiiat the 
liepuldican Committee of Congress, 
headed by Governor Morton, as cliair- 
man, ro\wvtpdu)iani»ir„i.di/ that McKnry 
rt-ceived 7,000 majoritv,KelIogg,who wa's 
given control of that State by Durell's 
midnight order, has l)een sustained n 
lii> revolutio?inry proceedings by the 
general govern mem and a Uepubiican 
Congress. And he is to-day su.-tained 
and kept in power by Federal bayonets. 
Tile taxes of this State are about 84.75 
oil the .•^100 valuation. This is necessary 
ni order to give the party reigning money 
lo pay their tools and their own'salaries, 
-ome of which are enormous — one official 
receiving over SIOO.OOO per annum, and 



several others from $30,000 to $50,000. 
The expenses of the Legislature alone for 
one year including printing, amounted 
to over $1,000,000. But 1 "must hurry 
oh to other subjects, although I have n.>t 
said a tithe scarcely of what could be 
said on these two matters alone. But I 
cannot leave this branch without refer- 
ing briefly to another State in the South, 
scarcely less oppressed than Louisiana, 
I refer to 

SOUTH CAKOLIXA. 

I hardly have patience to state the 
transactions of the black and ' white 
scoundrels who are robbing the oppi'e.ssed 
pcoi)le of this State. The condition of 
this State is without parallel in the his- 
tory of Amei-ica m any other civilized 
government. There are men in public 
positions who cannot read or write, nor 
even sign their names, and have but lit- 
tle more conception of their duties than 
a hog of the botanical properties of the 
plants and shrubs he roots up. And this 
is the rule, not the exception. The 
whole government of this much to be 
pitied State is the moststupenduous farce 
in the world. That it is permitted to ex- 
ist is a sin, a shame and a disgrace. 

The Governor (what a misnomer?) of 
this State is a man named 3Ioses. To 
show you how he manages the affairs of 
one of the sovereign States of the nation, 
I will give you an instance of his finan- 
cial ability. He lately had occasion to 
raise $0,000 to help one of his news- 
paper organs. As the State treasury was 
in its usual state of emptiness, he had to 
have recourse to other sources. He, there- 
fore, ap])oiiilcd an ignorant n«gro youtli 
tax collei-tor for Orangeburg county. 
After his colK'ctor had gathered up tlie 
$(3,000 Closes gav(! one Hambright an 
order for it. .The ignorant negro think- 
ing that the Governor, like Kings, could 
do no wrong, cashed tlie order and re- 
turned it to the State Treasurer as a 
yoiudicr. The Treasurer would not take 
it, and the boy was turned out of office, 
his misssion being accomplished. His 
bond being worthless, the ta^x payers lost 
llie nioney. This is the transaction for 
which Moses was indicted in Orangeburg 
county. The indictment was cpiashed 
in due time, however, the judge holding 
that till- (;,iv('rnor could not be arrested 
for any crinic until after he had been im- 
peaciied by tlie I^egislaf ure. If the 
crime had hen murd'er instead of j-ob- 
liery, thedecisicM would doubtbws have 
been the smne.. And v.-i Uii^ man Moses, 



10 



who has done this, not to mention a hun- 
dred things that were worse, is a candi- 
date for re-election, with every prospect 
of endorsement bj'^ his party. And this is 
a sample of Kepublioan rule in the 
.South. This is what the great Kepubli- 
<'an'party, the advocate of "the civil rights 
bill, mixed schools and negro supremacy, 
the party of "great, moral ideas," has 
done for a Southern State where its 
power was supreme. Oh, shame! whore 
is thy blush! 

^ The Comptroller-General of South 
Carolina in his official report states the 
astounding fact that for default in the 
payment of taxes in that State aloup, 
268,628 acres of land were forfeited to 
the State, In the countv of Branfort 
alone, out of 2,300 farms '700 were for- 
feited to the State during the last year for 
taxes which the owners could not pay. 
The history of the world shows no such 
monstrous rate of taxation and increase 
of public debt all the time, as that of this 
State. It would ruin or destrov any peo- 
ple on earth. 

To give you an instance of the amount 
of legal wisdom these .judges bring to 
bear in their decisions, I will relate a 
couple of instances: 

A darkey had killed a woman. It 
turned out in the evidence that he killed 
her in attempting to commit rape. The 
(hirkey^ had been indicted, as is custo- 
inury, for murder in tlie tli-st degree. 
'I"he jutlge, another darkey, however, in- 
structed the jury to bring 'in a verdict of 
"not guilty," and assigned as a reason 
tiiatthe pri.soner killed the woman in at- 
ti^mpting to commit a rape, hence the 
motive was not murder, and as it was a 
>rrnna?i he killed, he could not be found 
gu i I ty of w/rt7jslaughtcM-. 

AnotlK-r: A white man bitught a 
piece of land. , The d,.ed #cited the 
usual clause, "do hereby grant to A. IJ., 
Iiis heirs, assigns, &c." The white jnan 
died and his beirs sold the property to a 
tliird party. In the jneantimo a "negro 
s<iuatteii on the land. Suit was brought 
in lijeclnK-nt to obtain possession of the 
land. Till- Socrates of wisdom, a negro 
judge, de(-.i<lcd as the man to whom it 
was originally d(;ed..(| ^u(\ his heirs and 
their assigns had all liad tlicland in turn, 
the jirovisionH of Ihe bill were fullilk'd, 
the title liad run out, and tlie jiegrn 
squatter was entitled to i)<)ssession "^and 
M) deoced. 

The f ri'HHury of thi« atatr' is wurse than 
lmnLruj)t. The jiecple jur finan.ially 



rumcd, and heartbroken, and tuiless tliev 
obtain relief, all who can, nnist abandon 
their homes. And yet this man Moso 
and his government is called Kepuhlican 
and is upheld by the general u'overn- 
ment. 

As an instance of tlip manner in which 
Gov. Moses retains his posftion.and keeps 
himself in office, 1 (|Uote from a Charl.-- 
ton paper: 

The Charleston Xnrs amJ Cuarirr \i)\- 
collected a list of all the convicts par- 
doned, and it amounts during a p"riod of 
only 19 months to the astonishing num- 
ber of 421. Besides these there Avere 25 
or 30 others who were pvirdoned in a 
batch, and no record was made of the 
performance. Of the 421, 21 had been 
convicted and sentenced for murder. 25 
for manslaughter, 16 for rape, 5 for in- 
fanticide, 33' for burglary, 24 for arson, 
12 for malfeasance in office, and the rest 
for less henious crimes. Everj^ countv 
official who has been senteneed for mal- 
feasance in office has been pardoned. 

Now, let us glance at the way the Ke- 
publicans manage elections in 'otic other 
Southern State,' I refer to 

ALABAMA. 

In 1872 an United States Senator was 
to be elected from this State. The Leg- 
islature was elected that fall, and it wm 
found that the IJemocracy would have 
two mojority on joint ballot. Now see 
how nicely our Republican friends, hav- 
ing control of the Courts, worked this 
matter. On their way to attend the ses- 
sion of the Legislature, three DeuK-wratic 
members were arrested on the plea of 
making fraudulent returns. They otler- 
ed any amount of bail, but it was refused. 

This gave the Republicans a majority 
of one in the Legislature, and they met 
and organized and declared the seats of 
these tliree mend)ers vacani. Tlien, while 
these parties were lieing kept in con- 
linement by a radical judge, they elected 
a Kepuhlican — JVlr. S])eneer-^to thi* 
United States Senate, and a Radical Con- 
gress recognized this proceeding niiil lie 
retains his seat to-day. 

And so I might m(>ntion in detail 
every Southern State, with which the 
Radicals have anything to do. If I h»d 
a week at my command I coulil not men- 
tion in detail the immy instances of 
fraud, criminal nnmagument an<I direct 
robbery with M'hich Republican oflicials 
have been charged, and, in numerouH in- 
stances, although proven guilty, retained 
in (jHico, bi> I'll hav* to udveit briuflv 



11 

tZ 'i^rZ^S^ZT Fn'"'^ ^•^-^«- 1 Credit MobiUer stock to the members of 
Ana first and foiemo.st of these comes Congress and prominent officials. The 

newspapers commenced to hint of bribery 
Iniud, Ac; then became more open in' 
tlieii- cliarges and named such men as 
Collax, Henry Wilson, Blaijie, Dawos 
Logan Harlaii, Hinghan., Kelley, Hco'- 
held, 1 alterson, .tc, all bright andshinin.- 
ights on the walls of Kepubljcanism a'^ 
being implicated by rectiving bribes in 
the shape „f stock for Ames. Theucamc 
an investigating committee and conse- 
quent exposure, one of the most dis- 
graceful ever known in the history ,,l- 
dishonest legislation. 

And although when this exposure oc- 
curred these parties luistened to disgor^'e 
and explain, yet the foot that they iv- 
ceived the stock remains, and there is no 
manner of question or doubt that if no 
law suit had been commenced, if no quar- 
rel had taken place between the mem- 

every dollar of the 

'aced by Cakes 
cd in the pock- 

to whom it was 

assigned. Nothing these parties can 
ever say or do will cover up the fact that 



the 

fRtDIT MOUILIKK. 

This whole business from tir.st to hist 
has been foul with cori'uptioii. The 
<'redit Mobilier, in brief, was a combina- 
li«'n entered into by Thos. Durant,-Oakes 
Ames and others, under a charter frum 
the United States, by means of which 
ihey were enabled to rob the treasury of 
millions of dollars, in the buihling of the 
Union Pa<-ific railroad. 'Twas a wh.'cl 
within a wheel. This is not the way they 
define their combination, but it amounts 
to tliis after all. The workings of this 
company may be better uiiderstood, per- 
haps, by supposing that live of you gen- 
tlemen enter into partnership, and'^the 
F)artnership business needs a manufactory 
of some kind. Three of you— a majority , 

—enter into an outside partnership to ['" ^ ,, _, - _.. 

build the manufactory in order to reap- /^'V? -.H m""^'" ^""^^'^ 
I lie profits of the transaction, and then Pr' Mobiher stock pi 

by virtue of your being in the majority "^» ^^^^^i'^^ ^lave remain, 
ni the original partnershin let th,. ^..>„ r'^'^ot the Congressmen tc 



ni the original partnership, let the con- 
tract in the name of that partnership to 

the outside partnership. This was the I., ■' "' "" ..... ^.-vcl up uu; laci mat 

nature of the Credit Mobilier rinij -V . -^ "^'^^^'^ tempted by the offer of Oakes 
number of gentlemen became stockhold- i"^"* ^*'"^ the prospect of large pecuniary 
i-rs of the Union Pacific railroad and ''"^^'^S"^'' *^ ^^*™y t'leir trust as repre 
obkuned^from Congress large grants of '^^'"^'^^'^'''^ ^^ ^^^^^ P«"Pl«- 
lands, United States bonds, and bonds I sanborx-javvk 

puaranteed by the United States to aid Before leavino- this br-uich of n.v ,-. 

approved by President Grant on May 8th 
18/2, there was smuggled in a section' ' 
which authorized the Secretary of the 
Treasury to employ not more than three 
persons to afishi the proper officers of 
the government in discovering and col- 
lecting any money belonging to the 
United States, whenever the same shall 



huilding of the road under the name of 
"The Credit Mobilier of America.^' 
Then these same men as stockholders of 
the Union Pacific railroad, contracted to 
build the road and at a price enormously 
above the just cost of the work. Don't 
you see what a nice little arrangement 
It was. Thus these men, with scarcely 



■si.z:::£.S;z;:±^L:t{^^^?¥^V^^^ 



bled to construct over a tli(-usand miles 
of railroad, at the expense (;f the public 
treasury, and in th(! doingso, make them- 
selves immensely rich at the same time 
1 lungs went along swimmingly for a 
wlnle until these greedy cormorants con- 
cluded that they were not making enough 
""'n(!y in the transaction. So, 'in order 
to get Congress to pass such a bill 
would enable them to hav(^ control 



tion, upon siieh terms and conditions a^ 
he shall deem best for the United State< 
This was tacked on in the Senate by 
■Frederick A. Sawyer, then a. Senator 
from South Carolina, afterwards As^i^i. 
ant Secretary of the Treasury, and 
fathered and pushed tlirough 'in the 
House by Ben. F. Butler ^This very 
same act and indeed the same clause oV 
t the act appropriated S4,8()0,000 for the 






12 



that thif very -arne Mr.yawyer was after- 
wards placed ill a position to furtlicr this 
measure "by being appointed Assistant 
vSecretary of the Treasury.. Yuu will 
also see that the power of the Seeretary 
was unlimited as to the moiety lie might 
thoose to pay these agents; he could pay 
them one per cent, or one. hundred per 
cent, as he might choose. Ami here it 
might again be noticed, as another singu- 
lar coincidence, that shortly after the 
passage of this act. a contract was enter- 
ed into hetween ^Mr. Houtwoll. the then 
Secretary of the Treasury, and John I). 
Sanborn, by 'which agrt'cmt>nl Sanborn 
was to receive one-half of all money> 
collected by hinV. The coincidence con- 
sists in the" fact that Sanborn was a spe- 
cial protege of Butler, who lathered the 
measure in the House, having been a spy 
for him during the war. This alt looks 
very much as if there was a Credit ]Mo-| 
bili'er in this affair, in which the primi- 1 
pal officers of the Treasury Department 
and some prominent ('..ngressinen were 
stockholders. 

Thus for doing tliat whicii it was the 
sworn duty of tlie assessors and collect- 
ors of the Government to do, and for 
which they are paid regular salaries, this 
man Sanborn and his cohorts, .layneand 
others, received within three years in tlie 
neighborhood of ?l,.-)00.()(Kt. This is 
what is known to have been paid them. 
There is no telling liowimich has been 
collected by these men ajid pocketed, 
without any return whatevei' having 
been made to the Treasury Department. 
The custom seems to have been for 
Sanborn to receive the money and trans- 
mit it to Washington at his convenience. 
He gave no receipts; he wa;'* not under 
bonds; and heither the Government or 
anybody else had the slightest guarantee 
of 'his tidclity. 

These facts show that the.otleiise ol 
the Treasury Department has been de- 
liberate, and" they lead almost irresistibly 
to the conclusion that Sanborn has had a 
r.irrupt understanding with some person 
..r jwrsons in high oflicial ix.sitioii. The 
Scretary of the Treasury gave the II. S. 
<"ollectors and Assessors explicit and re- 
j)ealed orders to give ihcM'. men the use 
of their books and all the assistance in 
their ))ower, and prohibiteil tlu'in frmn 
inlerlVring in any way in any c-ascs 
which Sanborn ii Go. sele<!ted for them- 
selves. And wlniii they neetled bgal 
Advice, the Solicitor of the Treasury was 
always ready to construe the law in th.'ir 



favor. And it i- hinted that the ex- 
posure of the»e frauds is what caused our 
Republican tVieuds, ^Ir. Richardson, Sec- 
retary, Air. Sawyer, Assistant Secretary,/ 
and "Mr. Banfield, Solicitor, to resign 
their respective positions. 

DISTRKT 01-' COLIMISIA. 

If 1 hud time 1 would like to prcj-eiit 

to you in detail the mismanagemeut and 

corruption existing among the Tle})ubli- 

cau oflicials of tlie city of AVashingtou. 

as shown in the trial before the Conimil- 

tee of Congress last winter to investigate 

the atfairs' of the District of Cohuubia. 

It is sufficient to say that that investii;-a- 

tion brought to light so many rings and 

jobs and so much mismanagement and 

"corruption that Congress abolished the 

whole district govei'nmeiir, and provided. 

I'or the appointment of three ccmmlis- 

sioners to settle up the attair,-. 

I And yet in the face of all the proof 

I against Governor Shepherd. President 

(«rant — who never deserts this class of 

iien — appoints Governor Shepherd chief 

of' the comiiiissioh to settle up his own 

mismanaged affairs. Tt is proper to add, 

however,' that the Senate projierly ami 

promptly rejected t'he immination. 

Another instance and I will leave Ihi.- 
point. Wfiilst the investigation wa> 
going on, a ilr. Cluss, who was engineer 
of the Washington Board of Public 
Works, was summoned before the com- 
mittee to giv(> testimony. His testimony 
implicated in frmiduient ' transactions 
men who are known to be President 
Grant's intimate friends and associate-. 
The committee wanted him to produce 
some papers from his office pertinent to 
the invi>stigation, and set a time, a day or 
two later than his examination for him 
to do so. Shepherd & Co. in the nn-an- 
tiine met and passed resolutions denounc- 
in'"- Mr. Cluss as a perjnri'r, ami demand- 
ing of the President his removal. Well. 
he""was removed, and when the day came 
for his fui-thcr investigation, he had to 
inf(n-m the .■..mmitfee that he wa- uo 
longer engineer, and so bad n.i acc-^ t* 
the papers they demandi'd. 

(iK.NKKAI. now AKIi. 

The Secretary of War in a i-it.rto 
Congressdated Derend)er4, 1X7;!, charge.! 
(b'li'eral O. < ). Howard, who had chaigc 
of the Buri'au of Refugees, Freeiimrn 
and Abandoned Land, with beingcharg.d 
with the sum of S-J7K.')7;;.tl('., fur which h.- 
had tileil no voucliers or made no return. 
TheSi'iii-tarvsavs: "In one item, stated 



at upward- of 3121.000 nol itroniiilrd 
fiT. i( will hf se«n thai acemuits oauiiot 
lie produced, .ami no attempt to prove 
wluit lias become of the muiiey." t)f tlie 
whole amount one. item of .->:!H,888.:Uf 
was claimed by ooloi-od claimants, who 
alleg-e that tliey have not been paid their 
bounty pay, although the records ol" the 
Trcasiu-y Department show settlement of 
tlie claims, and vouchers have been tileil 
by ihe Bureau as cvidciin- of lli.' pay- 
ment. 

(General Holt, who ])ublisiied an article 
criLicising the rulings of the court mar- 
tial selecled to try Gen. Howard's case, 
>avs that the evidence shows that . SB, 000,- 
000 have faiUxl to reach the right i'ul 
claimants. 

Yet, despite all this, l*rcsidi-nt (irant 
a>signed Gen. Howard to the connnand 
of the Department of ("oluuibia, liead- 
■ juarters at Portland, Oregon. 

I'LBLKJ LA Mis. 

The loUowing is the di.sposil ion of the 
publi.' domain tints far ajtiiropi-iatcd for 
all purpos.-^^ by thf (iriicr;il (lovcrnmeut : 

A, -res. 
Sales tor easli to actual settlers.. .. .S)(,i;!t-J,(H)0 
Sab's forea.sli to all other persons. 80,2!tt,l)(Kt 



Tll.DIID.IjeO 



71.-),(i.Vi 

i.'),yoo,Tsu 



Total cash sales ltl(i,r)8S,iKi() 

Donations to indlviilnals: 
lor military service, and not as- 

Sijr,i,.,l .1.(1(11 1,( UK I 

l"or'iii ilitar.v services, and assign - 
id to oIIkts 

To individuals, hcina liaK-lircni 
sciip,aud assigned toothers uu- 
lawtully 

To liomestead settlers 

To States: 

Swamp and (iverflowed lands (itt,()()(),(HH) 

Afiricultural college grants 9,.")l(),(i()0 

Sixtt>enlli aiul thirty-sixth sec- 
lions for schools f)!l,tMi(i,.S(l2 

To aid internal improvements, 
l)ut in some eases diverted to 

si-hool purposes.. lo,i)(i!l,(i71 

To railroads: 

In States '..• .")0,(K)(l,(«H) 

Transcontinental aiid branches.. ;!!),(NI(».ij(Jii 

Total donations :i.iO,.S()|,s.V. 

Aggregate sales and donations. -191 ,j.')(i,8-y) 

I'UJiLIC L.\>I)S YET RKMAlXl.\(i. 

The anuiunt of pid)lic lands unsold aiul 
umippropriated on June :')0, bSilO, e.xchi- 
>ive of Alaska, was 1,01 8, 20-2, CO! I acrc^, 
trom which should be dedmcted the grunt 
to the Texas Pacific road, 21,00(t,000 
acres. BalaiTce of ])ublic donutin now 
unappropriated, '.t97, 202,(109 acres. it 
would not be safe to estinnite the portion 
of this land tit for cultivation at mor(f 
than one third of the whole. This wouhl 
leave of puiilio lands suitable for liomes 



yet unsold and unappicpviaf^d o.')2.869 
acres, the best portions of which are re- 
served for Indian:. The. other two-thirds 
are either grazing or mining lands or 
desert.-. 

It will be -ecu iVolII the aliove ( hat 

fully one-lhird of the public lauils have 
biHjii given to private parties or railroads. 

now Til K SOfrnKRX ST.\TKS 11 AV K UKKN 

itonuKi). 
.\s a sam])le of the eemiomii'al man- 
ner in which lle|)ublicans inisniauage the 
atfairs of th*? Sinithern States, in which 
they have had full and complete c.mtrol. 
I submit a statement which is authentie. 
showing the friglitful manner in which 
the jjublic debt of tlu^ States names, have 
increased. .Ami it nuist be remembered 
that the valualion of the property liable 
for this debt. ha< <leereased largely. The 
statement is as follows: 

\\.\ HA.M.\. 
lie). I and liabilities, Julv 1, 

ISdl ?.'..!t.;!t,t>\| ,S7 

Present indebteilness, aelnal 

and contingent, including 

railro.-id liomls....^ ;!8,y81,W7 o7 



IncreaM' umlei- Kadii-al rnle..%o'.',t-12,312 TiM 

A1!K A.NSA.S. 

nel)t and liabilities in !,S()1 S4,0oli,llol 87 

Pr<s(nt debt and liabilities, 
a<-tnal and contingent, in- 
cluding railroad and levee 
bonds.. l,">,7(it,L'tr) (i-J 



Increase under Kadii-al rule..sl,3,7'JJ,')12 7") 

Kt.OWIl).\. 

liebt in isiid ■ s:.'i;i .11(111 ao 

Present ilebi, including i-ail- 
road liouds, issued and au- 
thorized I.»,7ifci.ll7 .« 



Increase under Kadical rule..S15,542,117 .>1 

<iKOK(;l A. 

1)1 bt and liabilities in ISfiO, 
about *;i.(Kie.(i(i(t (Id 

Present debt and liab)liti<'s, 
including railroad lionds, is- 
sued and aulhori/.ed, dedin-t- 
iug $().iKiu.(M»(i deenu-il fraud- 
ulent M,l:>7,.'>(K( nil 

Increase iiiKh r KaiHcal rul<\.%41,l:?7,.")(HI (HI 

I.OCISI AN A. 

Debts and liabililies, .lannarv 

1, l.sdl ■.*lu,(j:i!i.ti7l :;i 

Del)ts and liabililies, June 1, 

1871 , 41,li»4,47;i !M 



Increase under Kadical ruIe..ytl,0!Jo,otH) .j7 
f 

The excess of e.vpiMiditures over re- 
ceipts in this State for the year 1871 
amounted to .'f?((,.'U/>,7;5;!. 



Noirrii cAiioi.i.NA. 



Deblsand liabilil ics.Iulv I, I8lil ^«(,tiilH,.VH) (Kl 
I'cesent deblsand liabilities.... .-U.SS",*)? K', 



Dicre.Mse iiiidei Kadical III Ie..5'2-">,I87,!M)7 K"i 



14 



•VjUTH cahot-ixa. 

p«hrin 1M,J, jipproxiinaiK ?'l,(l(lO,fMX) (Hi 

JHl)( II) ISTl, iiirlii(lin« bonds 
lor;iilni:uIs,:iii(l liomlsindis- 
■ Piilt'siK IVaiidiilciit :i9,lo«,91.1 IT 

Jiicroasi' undii- Radical rule..Sa5,158,9M 17 

MrSSISMI'l'l. 

Ill IMiii, no d<'lil. 
J».h(. iii.iiri-..d iiiid.T lUidical 
rule, .Famiary 1, 187U ?J.7'J(i.!)7l :m) 

TKNNESSEK. 

I>>l)ls and liabi)iti.-s, October. 

..'f'j' ;-,-.-,-.",v *20,lUo,WliJ Hi) 

J»"bis and lial)iliti(-s, January, 



thf publi.' cPi-Vif^p named in the fi'^cal 
voars imS and 1873, respecliveJy: 



/irvin-li ,,/ .Sticicc. 



Johnson (frrinl 

Prvxiilcnt I I^residrnl 



iim 



l'<>s:(<in!( 



..'....jS22,73(),592 



'l"''»'i^ VZ.VZ i;!tSS,';i53 

^'■'^"■;i. 16,28S,2J4 

< <»;lsl.Siilvcy •l.-i.'-. 7m 



IK71 



lo,688,2(i:; l() 



lMcifii>^c iiDdcr }{adi.-al i iilc..*i;.'-),.>;2,(i-)(i so 

TK.VAS. 

Ill INil. III. dihi. 
firs.. lit d<'l)t iiMd lialiililics. in- 
• •uiTi'd iiiid.r Hadi.al nilr. 
iuvludiii-i railroad lioiids, (•••- 
Uni tiled >IT.(i(Ki.iMii (10 

i;i;« Ai'ijri.ATioN ci kuuhkkv. 



I Siirwy of i'liblie 

Lands 

^Surveyor y<Mi"eraT'si 
O/iices 

.riidiciarv ' '| 

Siil)-Tre;isury ...."" 
-Miscelliiiieoiis 



io5,700 
373,252 




1873 



$20,(184,9^1 

7,a)I,7(>} 

lfi,296,-3;{ 

8.52,828 

J,128,(K)0 

•1U,J.>-) 

3.82(1,13] 

■193,(361 

73,328,110 



Tolal 



\l;il..inia 

Arkansas.... 

rinrida 

'•<'<'i-Kia 

Louisiana 

.Vorl.li ('arolina., 
!Soulh f'aiolina. 

>Ussissi))|)i 

Tennessee... 
Texav ■•• 



■f;i2,l-12,312 .V) 

l'),724,312 7.") 

l'),r>12,147 .->-i 

ii,i;!7,.")(«) 00 

•".i.oo.K.'iim .-,7 

2."),lK7,9(i7 S") 
;!.'). I. ■)8,ilM 17 
I,79(>.il71 .-id 
2"),.'vS2,0.")(i 80 
I7,(K)(I,(MI0 00 



'J'he miiiilur of eniplpyees borne upon 
ll"' ''ivil \U of ilu. United Slates hat 
:tliiu..t doulded >iiice 1S(;(). 1 .sul.uiit a 
lahle r.inijiiled tVoiii wliat i.s known as 
ihr •• nine nuok," or llieOtHcial Kegister 
"f llie United State.<, whie.h is issued 
onee every two years. The table is as 
follows: 



'I'otai 



,.^210,()t).S.I8l> 78 



|8.-)!l 

181)1 

ISti,-! 

18(r) 



|8(;- 



U,o27 
•lf),0-19 
■17,375 
.Vi,l(i7 



GKK.\r l.\( i;ka> 
TKK 



OK '111 K K.\ I'KNSK? 
IV KItWIKN T. 



.\- a matter of intere>i, mikI Io .-how 
tile eMraordinary manner in v.liieji tJi, 
e.vpe.n.st'K of the ^(nernmeiit have in- 
■•i-eased, I have iirejmred the following:; 
iJilile, wiiicli -Jiows ilie ud ordinarv e.\> 
peiidilures from 1 T'.rj to tin; present time, 
lalviiif;- every deeadi' as an iiveraL,^,.! 
'i'heso c.vpeiiditui'es do not imdddi- tlie 
piiiilic debt or it> iiilei-,.>i. 'l'],,. iiibj.. is 
'dHeial, ami i- a- foJlov\>: 



18ti9. 
1871. 
1873 . 



.... :.I,2(I7 
... .")7,()0."i 



ast two \ears cd" 



17JI2 ■ 

IXtH) . 

1810 

1820 ■.■■.'■■ 

I>i-'i0.... •••••^.■. 

18^10 

IKl!>-.-)ll (HnciI v,.',i,.j 
I8.i)(ti(( " ■ ■' 
l8«ill-70 " " 

1872-7-; 



■^i,877.i»(i:{ a'{ 
7,in,;iiiii 07 

•■).•> 11, 082 28 

l:;.i.t4,.Vfo r,7 

l.l,229,.Vi3 .•!.•( 
-l.l.'iil.OOO 11 

.'i7.ii;."),;i<H) (i!» 

•10.1110,002 .'>8 
l(il,(r»8,27.; 81 
180,|88,(Pt(i 00 



I liiixe also prepared a table L-iviiii;' a 
-iimmary and eomparative .statement of 

■■\)l-Mditllles ;„ ,1 veral braiielie. of 



-Vii increase in the 
twenty odd tlioiisaiHl. 

This list doe.s not inelude the laborers 
and iveneral employees, but the eivil list 
proper. 'J\i j-ive you sonu- idea of th<; 
manner in wliieb this list in almost daily 
adiled to. I will -ive you oiK^ instance, 
which will serve as a samjile for a great 
many ca.ses. There ai* live enii;ineers 
regularly empluyud to run the stationary 
cii'-im- that lieats the Senate chamber, a'l 
salaries ranging from s;l, .-)()() to ^I'.rHK) jier 
aniuim, when two, at farthest, coidd do 
all that is Jieeessary. The Hftli one hap- 
pened to br emjiloyed in this way: He 
ha<l rendered somc' political .serv"ice to a 
Kepublican SenatMr, and canu' to \V;ish- 
iiigton to be I'ewardeii with an otlice. 
Tpoii looking around, he found there 
Were four engini.'iM-s to do the work above 
-tated. This siM'ined <'a.sy work and so 
he asked liis friend, the "Senator, to se- 
'•me jiini a position in that corps, and it 
was ai'cordinglv r|one. 



15 



IhePostoffieeJX-iKiiltuiiit fdsl , ■ ,• 

It \\iU be ohscrvcd that in 18()8 lo^Jli>t: 
than $2:1000,000 w,MH. s„fficMO,it, ^^■hil. f.,r , , . . AV/..„,/.„ „„ 

H.IKXI 



.,x,,„,, „, , . .. •^<>miiii.slr(iliiiiis. 

miuu-pd— an increase of onp-haHr"'A!.'(l I ■["«■" •■^''"V'"' '">'"-l'^«i - ,-, ,„„, 

this in the ^00 of the allegation of" hI' felS;' K^Ji:; ■"" • ^^^^ 

. rostnia.ster Genernl tJi.if +Ko „k„i:* •.. Ar,>.i.-,>u 'i^i^. ■:., 4.!,0(hi 



Monroe, 'l,Sl,S-l,sj.i.. 

J. U. Adams, I.S2r)-V«2S 

Jaclvson, ISi'd-hSHd '.' 

\ran Biuen, J<s:;7-lSj(i 

Haijison and Tyler, IsTl-wT^".*" 

Polk, ]«4o-I.S4,s 

Taylor and FiliinoV-'e.TsiJJlTAiJ'i"" 

Pl.Tce, l,S;-);!~l,S4.S 

Bnehanan, l.S.')7-l,S(;0..!" 



T> . , ,, ^ •>'.■ j;,.ll,n/ii 111 I lie 

Postmaster General, that the abolition of 
the franking privileo-e would save sev- 
eral million dollars in the expenses of 
his department. And yet he asks near- 
ly five million dollars more for this yp.„. 
than he expended in J 878, before' the 
tranking pnvilet;.- was abolished This! 
IS econoinj- in the wrons;' direction I i^'!""'"' J'Siil-isiu 

It is true tlrat the Eep*ibliean>arty anmu'l^ST''''' " 

elaims great glory for the abolition o'f ' 
the Iranking privilege," but yet they 
have a system of "official stampi," which 
IS used, or rather abused, in the saire way 
a>* the franking privilege. I have Ee- 
piiblican authority fVn- tliis. Senator 
i^ewis, the Republican Senator from Vir- 
ginia, in a discussion on a proposition to 
allow the members to send free public 
documents to their constituents, made 
tiie following statement, which I quote 

from the Globe: ' 

"Mr. Lewis—Allow me to make a 

suggestion to the Senator from Missi< 

s.ppi. He says the franking privilege 

was abused in the franking of political 

documents. I say that abuse has not 

been abolished yet. I have now in my 

I'oom plenty of documents, not on o-oy- 

ernment business, but electioneerin<r doc- 
uments franked with the official stamp 

upon them by ofHcers of the .^ovrn 

Hient." 

K.VPENSK OF flR./lXT AT TlIK \vu,TK 
HOUSE, fOMVARKDWITII oiMKn l>l;Ks,-' 
DKX'IS. 

TlH' following summary of expeiuii- 
tnres, which extends over three-Vniarter- 
ot !i century, shows the enormous out- 
lay for keeping up the Presi.lentialMan- 
^lon, and the rate of "pn.gres.s" for ii,..t 
t-.me DuringlMnHucllana^rsadministra-' 
uon the cost was .^i)4,!.oo, while under 
General Grant it has rea<-hed *;!'>;-! 8:i4 
The^.tems are classified under the nam..s 
of furniture, repairs, fuel, attendants, 
giounds ami greenhouse, fenc(^s, .«table< 
and contingent expenses, but, if IhorouTl,: 
ly sifted, they would be found 'o cover 
more domestic objects. That money can 
be thus illegally .liveried has been <l,own 
by the erection of the Pre-id.u.fs ^.tables 
^coitmgsome S40.000J out ..f the appro- 



2'>,(MI(I 
. •■i(»,l)OU 

. :i,iti(( 

, l.s,;{tio 
. ■•io.o.f.s 

10(),tL'.{ 

l()«,7;t; 

IS4,.30(I 

.■!2:!,H;il 



> into 
menii( 



the 

II a 



I7.'!,!).!!» 27 



l>EFAr,CATIo\S. 

The number of defaulters can scarcely 
be computed, and the amounts stolen and 
due the government runs u 
hundred millions. I can .mlv 
few prominent one>. 

Major J. L. ikxl-es, Armv Pav 
I master • ■ 

J<.sliua>\Bailey;inY,:rV,HiK<-ve" 

line (r>ll,.,.tor, A'.-w York 1 UO ()(X) 00 

>rankSoule, Iiiu-nuU Kev.-nue ''""'"'"' "" 

i)e|)artmeiit , -., -,,, ,„, 

Sheridan Sli,,,,k,CV>lIeci;;r7;nn: ' '^•' '" "" 

ternal Revenue l,on..-,t7 Oil 

T mention th.'s.. four because they have 
been prominently mentioned in "public 
]>nnts. Hodges lost his amount in stock 
an. ival estate sp<^ullation ; was tried ami 
senten<-edtoten yesPrs iuipris..nment but 
was promptly pardoned out by (Jen 
Grant. Bailey had (4eo. Opdvk.- and' 
lienry Clews on his bond, and. althouoli 
th<^y are wealthy and amply abb- 1., ivfun.] 
the amount of the .lefalcation. v.-l m. 
suit has been instituted to recoVer it 
Shook was Collector in the linieof Fre^i-' 
dent Lin.-oln, and then b.-.-ame a .lefaul- 
ter to the amount of nearly half a mil- 
lion of dollars, and although still a .b- 
faiilt.M'. be w;i> reappointed to that im- 
l>ortant pu-itin,, by Pr.'sident (Jrant an. I 
again be.ain.' ;, <l,.faiilter f,,r ab,,ul ib,. 

sam." amount. .\ft.>r thi> mm- | <lei:,|.-,. 

tioii he fled the country. 

Last winter 1 intn..liic,'d mto Ih.' 
Senate a resobif,i,„i for the pur|M.M. nf -i-- 
ocrtaining ,)„. number ..f ,lelin,,uent 
K-deral ..Hi... b,,ld.-r.. ..,nd the am.,nnt 
01 thi^ir de!in<|U.'n<-ies. „iid the probaMli. 
ties of recovering any part nf it. 'l'),,. 
i'e.s..lution was referre.l to tin- Committ.-.- 
on Fmanc". an.! aft.'r k.-eping it for some 
tune they ivported it back, with the re- 
'•"mmendHtion that it d.. n,.t Jpa.s, and 



Ifi 



.~t;ilinn- fiT a rm-oii t hrTrlMi-. tli;it it 
\vijul(i tiikcsix luoiiUiH lime and eo.-t sT").- 
000 to obtain tiic (Icsirod informatidn. So 
you can form sonic idea tVom tli'.s report 
of the immense nnmiier of defaulters 
tliere nnr-t l)e. and tlie vast amount of 
money they nuist luive taken. 

1 have aiiven tigui'cs both a> to the ex- 
pense f)f tlie fTovornment. and these de- 
faulters, witli but little connnent, for the 
reason, that the facts and tii^ures s])eak 
so plainly for themselves. b\it little com- 
ment is neeih'd. 

I-I N A N<KS. 

The fiiuincial policy of Gen. (4rantantl 
the Republican ])arty is driving nearly all 
the specie out of the country. As a mat- 
ter of public interest, I append a state- 
ment of the exports of specie from the 
port of New York to foreign ports since 
Jaiuiary 1, for the period of '2'A years: 

1,S74 :5;'.2,8in,lS.!;lSllL' ;!7,(H)l,:i72 



18 

1«72 

1871 

1870 

1869 

18ti«..... 

I.S«7 , 

KSHfi 

1S(M , 

i8t;4 

ma 



;-iti,n(i-j,(i!>!)ii8(il 

.">:;,l(>l,7l(i|l8(W 

l!i,8S;;,7(i7 

•_'7,(i;)7,l!»:i 

L'(i,2:tl,77o 

.>;,7.',o,(it;u 

;;ti,7."),s,:ift.-; 

.')l,L'!M,r)!l7 

I8,»)()',),7.)J 

y(),(;i8,<M.") 

•J.".,821,2»r) 



!,2r)8,!l7( 
2!»,718,.>);i 

i,s.")!i w,;jn(i,isi(i 

1,S,58 ir),71.-),7i!t 

18.")7 28,21(),t)10 

18.-)t) 20,.'):!.^,;");) I 

18.>> 1!),2()8,728 

l,^J4 2(),2(K),0ll 

18.");j 12,.')81,821 

IS.VJ i.")..'i!i(i,:.iis 



President Grant under dale of .Tune 4. 
1874, in his letter to Senator J. me-, -ays: 

•■Flr.it: I would like to >ee the legal 
tender clause, socal led, repealed; tin' re- 
peal to take et!ect at a future timi', say 
.liilv If^t, IHTo; this would ctin-e all con- 
iract>^ made after that date, for \\a:;ev, 
-ales etc.. to lie e.-limated ill coin. it 
ivould coi-rect our notion- of value-. The 
-itecie dollar would lie the only dollar 
known a- the mi-a-ure oi' eqiii valenl-. 
When debts afterward cfpntracltHJ were 
p. lid in currency, instead of calling the 
paper dollar a dollar and ([noting gold :it 
-o unich i)reuuun», we should think and 
-peak of |inp<'r al so nuich discount; this 
aloiii- would aid greatly in bringing the 
1 Wo curi'encie- nearer together at par. 

■••SVci.,,./; 1 would like to -ec a pro- 
vi>ionthat atatlxedday. -av .hdy I. IK7<i, 
the c(\rreni'y i>-ued liytle I'lMted Stales 
-honld !)<• I'ede.iiieil in .oin on prescnta- 
lioii to any a--i,-lanlant' treasurer, and 
iliut all the currency so retb-enuMl should 
be eancelled and never reissued. To ef- 
fect tliis it would 111' necessary to author- 
ize the i»-ue of bond- payable in ^jold. 



hearing -ucli intei-e-t a- would conuuaiul 
par in gold, to be put out by the Treasury 
only in such sums as should from linn- to 
time be needed for the purpo>e of re- 
demption. 

■Such legi.-lalion wouldinsure a return 
to -ouml financial principles in two years 
and would in my judgeinent work less 
hardship to the debtor interest, than i- 
likely to come from putting off the day 
ot linal reckoning. Prrvvided that from 
ami after the date lix'ed for redemtion. 
no bills, whether of national banks or of 
the ['iiited States, returimd to the treas- 
ury to be, exchanged for 7iew bills, should 
be replaced by bills of less denomination 
than .slO, and that in one year after re- 
sumption all bills of le.ss than $5 should be 
withdrawn from circulation; and in two 
years allbillsof less than slO should be 
withdrawn." 

It will be seon that the President 
thoughl that by July next the Jjcgal 
Tender would be repealed, cV:c, This 
would nnike all debts then owing, wheth- 
er due, or not, payable in gold, and all 
business thereafter done in coin also. 
The President would follow this up by 
calling in bank notes uiuler the denomi- 
nation of tive dollars, and in less than 
two years by callling in, aiul ])rohibiting 
the use of bank notesdf a less denomina- 
tion than ten dollars. The repeal of the 
Leu;al Tender Act, and the withdrawl of 
all liank notes untler ten dollars would 
bring distress ^and I'uiu uptin thecomilry 
and people geiu'rally. While thi- policy 
would greatly iiu^rea-e lU.- wealth of the 
bond and t'oin holder, it would decrea.-e 
the value of articles of trade or use, so 
that the dolhu- in gold or bond would 
buy perhaps twice as nuich as now. 
Those owing debts would consequently, 
have a hard time to pay tliem. On the 
other haiui, as opposed t<)(ieneral Granl- 
policv, we lind leading Republican-; in 
the West and South, >ucli as Senatoi-- 
.Morton, Logan, Kerry, ^of Michigan, i 
iVc., saying 'Muon' ]iaper money and no 
time luinu'd to redeem." So you see. the 
ivepnbricans, as a jiarty, have no jixcd 
policy on limmees. The great majoiiiy 
of tiie Democrats.myselfaniongthe ninu- 
ber, say, pay le.ss interest to the bond 
holders, and' make banking free lo .all. 
Let the business jind incereasp of the 
country bring the gieenbacks ami <;old 
.gradually togethei', ami -pecie paxmeui 
w ill -oon nece-sarih follow. 



17 



THE ^DISCRIMI.VATinXS MADK BV THE 

i GEOERAL GOVERVMENT AGA1NS>T THE 

SOUTHERN BORDER AND WESTERN 

STATES, AND IN FAVOR OF THE JllDDLE 

AND NEAV ENGLAND STATES. 

The revenue colleoted by tlie ITnited 
States for the tisr^cal vearentliiii;' Juiiu '■iO, 
1873, was: 

From imports or custom du- 
ties ...$ISS,0.S!t,r)21 70 

From internal revenue .■ 1I8,72!>,314 il 

From circulation of national 
banks (i,880,037 67 

From miscellaneous sources... 2o,2S9,;>30 W! 

Total receiptslfortheyear end- 
ing June 30,1873 5;>3;V*<,20J 67 

It will 1)0 seen from the above that more 
tlian one-third of the entire revenue of the 
government is eolleete directly from the 
people. This is so arranged by a Republi- 
can Congress and administration that but 
little is collected from the Eastern or 
New England States, but the most of it 
is collected from the Southern, Eortler and 
Western States. 1 will give yoii a few 
examples to show the unjust nuinner in 
which-the internal revenue is collected 
fr«m the Border and "Western States, 
while the Northern and New England 
States are favored, not only in the levy- 
ing of the internal revenue, but in the 
protection of her manufactories at the 
expense of the Southern and Western 
States. 

DurinR the last fiscal vear end- 
ing June m, 1873, VV^ est Virgin- 
ia paid in internal revenue to 
the Unil.'d Statrs S Ji;),*! V.) 

Maine and Vermont, both Re- 
publican and New England 
States, paid but 2!K),oo6 13 

Excess over bf)th States S 15!>,lo.") 11 

West \'irginia has )>aid into tlu- 

ITiiiictl States trcasuiv since 

186.3 .■56,097,021 .50 

Another example is as follows: 

Virginia paid in internul reve- 
nue last year §7,113,71)9 2!) 

All the six Slates of New 
England paid .5,.')7.5,.5.>4 13 

Excess over t hi! wliole of New 
England *l,868,2i.5 16 

Ohio and Illinois paid nearly as much 
internal revenue as the whole of New- 
England, and the two great states of New 
York and Pennsylvania cond)i]u'tl. 

This shows conclusively that large (hi- 
ties arc laid upon iinjiorts to favor the 
North aiul especially New England and 
her manufactories, but when inlcriiaV 
revenue is to be raisetl, it i? so hivied as to 
come largely from the South and West, 

3 



and but a small amount from the North. 
We are taxed to favor New England 
manufactories by way of duties on im- 
ports, maiving every manufactured article 
we use cost us an average of .".3 per cent 
more than they would but for the tariff 
on imports. This is unjust to the South 
anil XVest, and ought to be renu'dicd. 

GENP:RAL GRANT. 

It would hardly be becoming in me to 
close this part of my remarks without 
making some mention of President Grant. 
I will not be so discourteous, even if the 
National llcpublican Committet; in their 
lali- address, did slight him. One of the 
great objections to President Grant and 
his administration is their dangerous ten- 
dency towards Ceniraliznfioii. 

The whole drift of things, in every 
department of the Government, under 
the present administration, is towards 
centralizati<tn. To do whatsoever a Pres- 
ident or a Congress will, is becoming 
practically, tiie .supreme law of the land. 
It is fatal to local self-government, and 
the supremacy of the people. It is cal- 
culated, and unless changed its end will 
be to subvert all the powers and forces of 
tlie Government to the control of one 
man. Is this to be the end of our repifb- 
liean form of government? Was it for 
this the Revolution was brouglit about by 
our forefathers? 

As a proof of the tendency of the 
pn^sent administration towards' centr:il- 
ization I have but to call yotu- attention 
to its interference in the State elections 
in the Southern States, and ihen note the 
steps taken by the party in power in 
Congress in this matter." In 1871 they 
passed an act the title of which was "Aii 
at't to enforce tiie righC of citizens of the 
United States to vote in the several 
States of this Union, and for other pur- 
poses." The avowed purpose of that act 
was to control the election of members (>f 
Congres.'?. The operations of this law 
were confined, however, to the cities of 
the United States having more than 
20,000 inhabitants. This was put out as 
a feeler, and seeing that the jieoplc sub- 
mitted to this indignity, they tried, 
in 1872, to go further, by in- 
troducing a bill by which' the 
Eederal Goverinnent would have the 
power to appoint supervisors of election 
for every voting precinct throughout the 
United States, and this bill pas.sed oih^ 
House, and if it had become a law it 
would liave placed the wliole machinery 
_ f the elections throughout the United 



18 



Statoi under the control of the Federal | 
Government. Thi.-^, with the power of 
f-uspendiiig tlie writ of /laheas ajriiiiH'— 
the oiilv sufegiuird of the liberties of the 
p(,(,ple^at the will of the Pre^idc-nt— 
which right the Ilepuhliean Congref;- 
a;ives him whenever it is neeessary to fur- 
ther its purpu-e.s — would nuike him more 
powerful tlian the Czar of Uus^^ia. Look 
to it that ye elect such men to pUiees of 
power as will jealously and /.ealously 
guard these safeguards of the people. 
This tendency to centralization is the 
most ominous sign of danger in the po- 
litical horizon. It is easy enough if 
you are deprived of your money, to re- 
trieve vour fortunes; but if your liberties 
ai-e tak<'n, if your re]uiblic is destroyed 
and a monarchy more dangerous and 
powerl'ul than any of the monarchies of j 
Europe erected on its ruins, you are lost, | 
hopelessly, irretrievably lost. | 

The purpose of many of these laws 
passed by Congress to take away from 
the states the regulating of their own 
elections has been, as they claim, in order 
to secure a full and free vote, and to 
prevent riots and disturbanws. The 
t r\ie purpose, however, is to silence and 
overawe tlie people, and by forms of law, 
and under pretext of keeping tlie peace, 
to control the elections in favor of the 
Republican party, and put it out of the 
power of the people to assert their riglits. 
We nmst check this tendency— the peo- 
ple must arouse and mi'ct impending dan 

.r^.,-s or historv will repeat itself in the 

radfallof.ours," as fell tile llepubiics of 
Greece, Kome. and others. 

Another thing showing tiie tendency 
to centralization is tlie etl'ort ot^ the dom- 
inant partv to pstablisb a system of I'os- 
lal lianks,'and Postal Telegraiiii. This 
may be verv well for inuiiarchiai govern- 
ments, but'it is a dangerous and fatal 
step in a republic. Another thing is the 
measureof national schools proposed bv 
■Mr. Hoar. Another is tiie passage ot 
Carpenter's bill to allow all suits for libel 
1., be brought to the Districtof Columbia, 
For this bill is but a law to gag the press, 
and to prevent tlieir correspondents, il 
possible, bv hara-^siiig suit< and otherwise, 
from puhlishing anything detrimental to 
the r.epul<li< an party or its leaders. It 
i-a bill to jiut the press of the country 
umler the control and supervision ot 
Congress, disguise it as you may. An- 
other and moFt grave tendency towards 
Ca'sari.sm, is tin; supjiort Craiitis n-eeiv- 
ingfor tlie 



THlfiD TERM. 
Although he has never baid he would 
l.e a candidate f<'r re-election, he has 
never ci>nimitted himself in any form, 
not to be a candidate. Ho has had 
pleiitv of opportunities in bis inaugural, 
liis messages and his public addresses, to 
de(-lare his position on this subject, but 
has never said a word, one way or the 
other. The fair inference therefore is, 
that he jia-s an eye to the third term. He 
.lot onlv shows this by his silence on the • 
h-ubject,"'but in nearly" all of Ids acts and 
appointments to office, you will see his 
utter disregard for anything but sell: 
AVitness tiie appointment of Simmons 
last winter to the important office of 
Collector of the Tort of Boston, in oppo- 
sition to the wishes of nearly every re- 
spectable and intlueiitial man of tliat 
city, as well as the whole He- 
publican delegation from that State, 
with tiie exception of J?en Butler. 
Witness his retaining in office, broth- 
er-in-law Casey, Durrell, Murpliy, &c. 

Another great ol»jeetion to i the Presi- 
dent is trhat his decisions aiid actsare to 
suit partisan ])Ui-poses Look at his de- 
cisions in the case of the State of Louis- 
iana, and then in the case of Arkansas, 
In Louisiamv he upheld Kellogg, wlio 
wasj}>laceu in ottice by Judge Durrell 
and displaced 3lcEnery. who had been 
elected by the people. In Arkansas he 
reversed his Louisiana decision by up- 
holding Baxter, when the courts had de- 
cided in favor of Brooks. 

Now, wiiile it seeniti liardly appro). ri- 
ate to a political speccli, I cannot forbear 
drawing a distinction b<aween the ad- 
ministration of {.icneral Grant and .some 
of his predecessors, in reference lo money 
niade while in the J'residenthll chair. 
1 The onlv man who has ever maUe money 
outofthf> Presidential ch'air is General _ 
Grant. Thomas Jetferson was obliged to 
sell Ills library to Congress, and to estab- 
lish a lottery for the disposal of other por- 
tions of his' proi..'rly in ord.'r to raise 
nionev after he left the White House. 
Mr. :Sradi-on was a banicriipt and had to 
dispose of his i-roperty anil reside witli 
his son-in-law in -New York, where he 
died. President Andrew Jackson, that 
embodiment of sterling, honest dem.'cracy 
suffered so much bv His eight years resi- 
dence in Washington, that he had I., 
borrow moilev from his friends when lie 
n.tircd to tiie"llcrmitage in 1H87. Tlies.- 
men eacii h.dd the olhce tor eight years.but 
then it \\m- not the custom for every 



11) 



prmnincnt otlicc-lioliK'r to pro^ont the 
President witli !i eertaiu poition of his 
iiu'omoin the shape of silver ware, hinds, 
cVe., neither was it ilie custom for Presi- 
dents to reeeivc t^ifts from parties who 
owed thcirortii-ial jiositions to them. You 
see it hatl a Uiok stron<>-ly like brihery, 
and Presidents in those days scorned any- 
thin:;- that even lookeil ir. timt direction. 
But 1 tind the theme of national poli- 
tics so.prolitic, that unless 1 drop it sum- 
marily and at once, Til have no time to 
talk tin State matters. . .>. 

WKST VIRGIXI.V — TH>: NICAV COXSTITU- 
TION'. ' 

Those opposed to the Democratic party 
in tliis State are always prating al)out 
the new constitution and its defects, and 
jjraisinji; up the old constitution and its 
beauties. They never mention what 
those beauties are, but I suppose thej- 
refer to the beauties of registration, test 
oaths of all descriptions, of perjury and 
fraud. They say the new Constitution 
accomplishes nothing. What did the 
old one accomplish? Its principal ac- 
complishment was to keep the Kepuhli- 
ran party in p5wer by disfranchising 
nearly everybody politically opposed to 
tin^m. You will lihd if you sift this op- 
position to the Conststution, that tliese 
ccnnplaints haA'e thei?- origin as a ride 
from some of the ''outs;'' from some sore- 
liead who lost a lucrative ottice by the 
adnption of the nt-w Constitution. By 
turning to this nuich-abused instrument 
you will lind a number of improvements 
on the old one. As you are all doubtless 
conversant wi^h tin^ Constitution, I will 
not taktuip your time by reading it, but 
refer ynutosomo of itSpromineni points: 

KEOIf4TKATIO:jf LAW. 

In the old Constitution there was a 
provision providing for the registration, 
nf votei"s, and authorizing thelegislatiu'e, 
ill its discretion to pass all sorts of test 
oaths, such as the voter's, suitor's, teach- 
er's and lawyer's test oaths. The legis- 
lature availed itself of the permission 
atf<H'ded by this provision an<l passed the 
most stringent laws of this kind. The 
infamous acts of the registrars and l)oard- 
i)f registration appointed undi-r this a<-t 
by the' liepublii-an ttovernoiv «if our 
State are a matter of history, hnd I will 
imt harass yon by going intoH recital <>[' 
tiieir sli;imi'ful pro<'eedings. Tbi'ir acls, 
however, are iiiilelibly inipresried upon 
the minds of tiie people, and llie remem- 
berance of them too vividly and deeply 



engraved ever to be eradieateil. Tlie 
new Constitution forbids the passage of 
any such hiM's, or even any laws looking 
in that direction. 

I refer you to the following provisions 
of the Constitution: 

Sec. 12, Art. l^'. '-No citizen shall 
ever be denied or refused tlu^ right or 
privilege of voting at an tdection be- 
cause his name is not or has not been 
registered or listed as a qualitied voter." 

Skc. 43; Art. VI. "The Legislature 
shall never authorize or establish any 
board or court of registratioji of voters.' 

If there were no other improvement on 
the old, this, alone ought to save the new 
from condemnation, ibr nomatti'r, if in 
the upsand downs of politics, the Repub- 
licans do get the upper band of us, and 
again secure political control of the State 
they can never grind us under ihi'.'w 
despotic heels again; they can never dis- 
franchise us, and ostracise us, by taking 
awa}' our right of franchise, or our right 
to earn our living, by following our pi^o- 
fessions or our right to come into court 
and collect our just debts and defend our 
rights. Xo, never, never. 

The new Constitution provides for 
biennial sessions of the legislature of 
forty-live days, which will be a great 
saving to the State. It saves the cost of 
one session of the legislature every two 
years, which alone amounts to some 
S2J.0QP; it save* largely in the cost of 
printing, and saves the cost of .one elec- 
tion every two yeaj's. 

It provides for a more efficient and 
satisfactory organization of the whole 
State system, and yet reducrs thii num- 
ber of otticers, and consequently reduces 
the exi^enses largely. 

It gives a poor man a chance to ri.-e 
in the world by allowing him tt>set apart 
a homestead ot' the value of $1,000, and 
personal property of the value of $2U(), 
wliich shall be free from his debts. 

It increases the revenues of the State 
by providing that negroes shall pay a 
poll-tax. The old Constitution released 
them from this by having no provision 
in it compelling its paynnmt. 

It increases the revenues of the State, 
and prevents fraud on tho part of our 
sheritis and other collectors, by si provi- 
sion debarring the h>gislatur(! from the 
passage of any act relieving sheritis oi' 
other collectors, or their sun^ties, from 
the. payment o|' money.s dui' tli.' State. 
Cnder till' old Coiistitmioii many thou- 
sand dollars were lojt to the dtnto by tho 



20 



passage of acts relpasing shoritfs and col- 
lectors and their bondsmen from the pay- 
ment of monies whicii had been oollected, 
and for which said sheriifs, &c., were de- 
linquent, or had become liable. 

It provides that no local or special 
laws shall be passed in certain cases. 
(See Art. VI, Sec. 39.) Under the old- 
Constitution many special laAVs were pass- 
eiltobenelit special parties, and in oiu; 
instance the title of a piece of land was 
given to a favorite, to the detriment of 
other claimants, by a special act of the 
legislature. 

Tljere is anotlier tiling in favor of the 
new C'onstitution which should bespeak 
for it, at least, a trial. Tlie ohl Consti- 
tution was ratified in atimeofwar, when 
hundreds, nay tliousands, had no oppor- 
tunity to express tlnur opinions thereon. 
The new C'onstitution was ratified in a 
time of peace, when everyhody tliat 
chose to do so could exercise his preroga- 
tive to vote, and they did so, white and 
black. Federals and Confederates, Kadi- 
cals, I^eniocrats, Neutrals, or by what- 
ever political term the voters were 
known, all had a right to express their 
seiitiinents and they did so, and the Con- 
stitution was ratified. Now see llie diJ- 
ference in the votes. 

In the election on the old Constitution 
tht>re were cast in all 17,288 votes. 

In the election on tlie new Constitu- 
tion over 80,000 votes were polle(^. 

So, yim see, over (J0,()00 more voters 
expressed an opinion on tlie new than 
the oltl Constitution, and it received a 
nnijority. Why then this constant \)v:\- 
ting ahout the defects of tlie new Consti- 
tution? 



I will now cull youi- attention to sec- 
tion 7 of article 10, which provides that 
"county authorities siiall never assess 
taxes in any one year, the aggregate of 
whicli shall I'xceodi'G cents per $100 valr 
nation," <'xee|)t lui- the snjipoi't of free 
seiiools and the payment of <h'lits in ex- 
istence at tin- time of thi' adojition of tlie 
Constitution, "unless such assessment, 
with all (juestioiis involving the increase 
of such aggr<;gate, shall have been sul)- 
■lilti'd to the vote of the. jjcople of the 
county and have received thri'isfifths of 
all the votes <!iiijl for anil against it." 
lender Ite|iublieAn administration th<> 
taxfs were fn'(|uently from $2.00 to :{,00 
on th(^ $100 \ uluation. Comment is un- 
necessary. 

Another oood p.iiiit inllirni'W ('oii- 



stitution may be found in section 35, ar- 
ticle 8, which reads as follows: 

"No citizen of this State who aided 
or participated in the late war between 
the fovernment of tlie United States and 
a part of the people thereof, mi eif/if)- sii/c. 
shall be lialile in any proceetling civil or 
criminal; nor .shall his property be seized 
or sold under linal process, issued upon 
judgments or decrees heretofore rendered 
or otherwise, because of any act done ac- 
cording to the usages of civilized war- 
fare in the prosecution of said war bj' 
either of the parties thereto." 

Under Ki-j)ublii'an administration the 
bitter feuds and animosities engendered 
during the late war were kept constant- 
ly alive by all manner of suits, civil and 
criminal, based upon acts committed by ■ 
the soldiers in both armies. This was 
all wrong. If we are to live together as 
brothers in a common union these things 
should be forgotten, or if not forgotten 
at least forgiven. So the Constitutional 
('oiiv(!ntion very properly inserted thi^ 
foregoing section in the Constitution, and 
it was ratified by the pe^iple. 

There are a few other complaints made 
by the "outs" against some of the laws 
framed under our new Constitution. 
They are inainly three, the County C<au-t 
system, the road law and the school law. 

COUNTY COURTS. 

There has been a great hue aiul cry 
raised as to ths County Court system 
and its practical woi kings. Now, not 
being a lawyer, I have no practical ex- 
perience to relate in this connection, but 
L have tliis to say, that' all this fu.ss is 
nonsc^iise, for the reason that the majof- 
ity of vt)ters of any county in this State 
can sliullle olf this system and adojit a 
new one at their will and pleasure^. Ami 
I notice as a somewhat ri'inarkable fai-t 
that although mo.st of this tirade against 
County Courts comes from Itepublii'an 
sources, yet in not a single county where 
the Republicans pretlominate has a move 
been made to change the system. They 
have tin; power to rid themselves olj this 
fraud, as they term it. If it is so un- 
wieldy; so expensive; .so objectionable 
in every way, why don't tliey rid them- 
selves of it as (piickly as possible? The 
('onstitution is ex]dicit on this jioint. I 
refer yon to section 34, article 8: 

"The Li'gishiture shall, upon the apjili- 
cation of any county, reform, modify oi' 
alter the County Court established liy 
this Con^tituliiHi In such county, and in 



n 



lipu thorpof" with thy assent of a majin- 
ity of the voters of said county, voting 
at any election held for that. pui'poMe, 
create anothln- court or other tril)unal^, 
as well for judicial as for police and tiscal 
purposes, either separate or coml)ined, 
wliich shall conform to tlie wishes of the 
county niiii<ini;- tlie application, Ijut with 
tin- same powers and jurisdiction herein 
conferred upon the County Court and 
with compensation to [)(> made fr(_)m the 
count}' treasury." 

The truth of the nnittcr is that these 
gentlemen who woiiy themselves so 
much ahout this matter and keep up 
such a continual howl ahout the County 
Court system and its manifold disadvan- 
tages, do it for partisan, jiolitical purpo- 
ses and that alone. 

ROAD LAW. 

As to the road law I have only this to 
say: It may have its imperfections, but 
1 defy any Legislature to frame a road 
law tiiat will }deas(' all classes of people. 
'Tis an impossibility. Yet if it worked 
all right under llepublican rule, what is 
the matter with it now? For it is sub- 
stantially the same now as then, with 
some slight amendments for the better. 
And it has this alternative advantage: 
You can have your clioice by eitlier work- 
ing the road a certain numbeY of days, 
or else by raising the rnoiu'y l»y taxation 
to work them. "Y'ou pay youi- money 
and take your choice. ' 

yREE SCHOOLS. 

A great deal of capital is attempted to 
be made out of the cry of "tlu^ JJenuic- 
racy opposed to the free school system," 
»tee. T/ie Dtr/Hocrntie jurrty catmot hy (Diy 
jjosaihle rcasonini) be, chariiedvnlh fiost'ilUii 
la free .<fc/iw)ls. On, fhc. cunirory, the Re- 
'fiublicans, by their effort a to force ini.ned 
.schools on the people.^ .shoir their etini'ity t<i 
the present free school system., fur thcij 
iniist know that the pussaye if ilie cirit 
riyhts bill or Hoar' s school l)'dl will iiu'rit- 
abiy and 'most certainly kill aiir free 
schools. The Democracy engral'tiid in 
our Constitutution the following section: 
"The Legislature sliall })i'ovide by gen- 
eral law for a tiiorviugh and eflicient 
system of frei; sciiools.'' (Sec. 1, Ai't. >^.) 
Not may, in their tliscretion, provide, Inil 
shall provide. Does tiiis look like hos- 
tility to free schools? By reference to 
the report of Hon. Ciiarles Lewi.«, then 
►Superintendent of Frtn) scho(ds, for tlie 
tirst year of Democratic rule in tiiis 
iState, we tind that instead of i-etarding 
the inteir-t- < 1 Jue jchools. the interests 



of free schools were pi-onioted; tiie gen- 
eral scho()l fund was larg,)iy iniTcased: 
a larger Tuunlu'r of teachers, male and 
female, wimc employed than the year 
preeeding, uncU'r Republican rule. 

I quote from his report of 1872 for the 
year 1871 Any otln-r years of Dem- 
ocriitic and Itcpublican i-ule will bring 
about Ww stime result. 1 take 1870 and 
1871 because it is the last of Kejaiblican 
and lirst of Democratic rule. 





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It may be uoUceil just liero that all 
tlieiv were over Sfl72,()0O iiKiiv colh-c 
IH'/l tL):iii ill INTO, as sliowii in Talili' 
MieccHimiissioiis paid loi- (■(i||..ci iiii; 
were ju-ai-l.v Jf.!,()i«i it'ss than in ISTO. 
sp eaks lo r itsell. 



hi.imh 
ted in 
A., vet 

in iSTl 
•I'his 



01 <M 



I liave compiled tlicso lalile? witli 
grfiat oaro IVpin ilie ottieial reimrt men- 
tioned al)ovc, and whilst they show a 
H'ratifyiiif^ increase in the collections lui- 
school purposes and a generous distribu- 
tion ol'tlie fumls I'or the legitinuitc use of 
fre(^ schools, on the other liand they show 
a gratifying decrease in Iht^ per cent, 
paid lor c(jliections, 6ic. So you will sec 
that this talk of the Democracy being 
o])posed to free schools, and going to 
ciusli out the free school system, &c., is 
nothing hut talk after all. ljefore;lf'av- 
ing this suliject. T \\ill also call your at- 
Iciitiiiii to the lacl tlialsin.-c the Democ- 
lacy ha\e ohtaiiied control of tlie "'IiMiX'- 
ilucihle Sc|io()l Fund," it has incres\st?jd 
nearly one-third, and that there is how 
in the Treasury to thecreditof tiiiit fund. 
ovi'r:>^;5U(),()(H).'^ 1 think .s;rr2, 000 against 
:*l':ilt,00() in 11^70. 

WHAT TIIK r>KMO<'ll.VCY 'ilAR DOSB: FOR 
Tins STATK SINCE 1871.' 

Oi'tobor Lst, 1870, was the end of tlic 
last fiscal year — the, llcpuW.icans had 
control of this Slate. Let us examine 
the state of the tn-asury then. The then 
(jfovernor stated in his anuual message 
to the Legislature in .Tanuary, 1S71. 
"Ihilauce in the Irea-urv Ocloher 1st, 
1«70, $"21;l,47Si .38, ■ hut failed to, stale 
that thi.-i amount all belonged to the 
sciiool funil, ami there was then an,;(cUial 
delicit in the(ieneral Slate Fund ot'/^i^^,- 
•'iii-i ICi. This dcfnil wa- made up as 
follows: 
.\loiicv la Ivcti ii-om, I ami uscil,) l)e- 

lon^iiij; 1<> ticneial ScJiool Kuiul.*'tl,9ti.s i; 
-Money tal{(?n Irom, (and used,) be- , , , 
lonninsi; lo Irredu<'il)le Scliool 

Kund, 25,&(«17 

Aloiie.N' apiiropriated liy I'ormer . ' 

liifiislal lire and jiaid alter Oito- 
l)cr Isi, IsTd _, ;?2,0?.'^ »J 

.\lakiii<4a <j:rand lotal of.......... ^l^vii l(i 

In i871-7L', we had to inakt> aiipi'opria- 
lion- to pay the following ddieils; lel't li- 
as legacies by our i;e)Ulblii'an pi'eileee-;- 
soi'.s: 

( 'oust met ii>n of AsNJiini lor i)ii» 

Insane, mack- in ISTd „•.■...'.. ...^I.<,W-' »*1 

.loliii I'li'W, |)iilili<' |)rinl.er...k|«j.t, .;...■ i'lfM.) ;:; 

I'll )iai:iIioii ol IJK' ( 'oile of 1.S7S LM.d llil 

I'linliie; the Cod.' ul I.MiS ' JII.IUMI IM 

I'.-isio .lohnsoii A- l-'aulUmi- hi the 
.•^11 i I l)elA\i-.-ii \'a.aii<l \V.\'a.,r<ln- 
live to .leltci'Noli and iierkeley 
coiintl.-s •....' r.,()lMV(iii 

(iiiaids ol" Ceiiltentlary ^sce \>" • 

liorl ol IS7I, |.ic-;e.'-..( , -l.iiiri f«» 

('llllel>l e.\ lii'liscs of I ' II i Ver»ill V al 

Moiv:ini..\Mi. . :t,IKif) (1(1 



loial HMhi/Vj 

Si) you see the Ui.'piihlicans left a de- 
flcieiice, appropriated or expended by 



23 



them of $137,039.71, for us to pay, all of 
-ivliich has been paid, withoul iiici-easini;- 
the taxes one I'ent, and we h;id a halniu-e 
of the (-reiieral State Fund in tin' lie:is- 
ury July 1st, lS7J,<.f sK7,.')rJ.')K and tin- 
Aiidilur informs me. hy K'tter tlnit we 
will havo a u,"ood haiaiiee l)(>loii:;inL;- lo 
llii' ui'iicial Sliilr fund at the I'nd oi' llie 
i'i'oenl li,-r;il yeai-. W"'.' havi' ndl taken 
jii'mthe sehool fund either whene\H'r- 
nn)Mey was needrd. a- did our Ke]Mibli- 
ean friends. 

Bftii'rcii, ISfiS 'O/f/, //u; ciul of the 
fiscal jicnr 1.S70 (he. iLcpuhUcanH re- 
rrlvrd from Ilic I'nifrd Stdtcii (tOC 
f i-iiiiiciif tn-( r$lii)\),0(M i)n ((.cconid of 
iiioiH}/ pa/dotif hij flif Sfdfc for Iioinr 
guards, (fcc, and in- 1S7(» thcij rccdv- 
< d from the B. <t (). railroad, for 
hack taxes, the sum of $7(),(H)(h Yet 
although these large- sitmx trcre i.ii. 
addition to (he regular revenue, theii 
left ,/ drficil for'the DemocrcifH to 
patj in ((.I most errri/ h ranch oj t/u. 
tSta.te govern.men.t, viz: Gene red, 
Stale Piuid, (Henered School Fund, 
Jrreduei.hle Sch,ool Fund, Asglum 
for the Insane, rrnilcntiarjj, Vnivf r- 

^it)l, etc., etc. 

For 187o the i;-eneral school fund dis- 
tributed was ><"ji!t,ol '•'•--, which is larger 
than any previous yiiai', and .'^4(MH)(> or 
soO.OOO jnore than any year under lie- 
publican I'uie. ' , , 

A\"e have put the li)eaf, , Dumb and 
blind Institution at lloniney in success- 
ful operation and niadt! additicnis to the 
building. "W^e have, Jncreas(;d the ap- 
jM'opriations for t^n; construction of the 
asyluui at VVeston-aiid the penitentiary 
at Moundtvilie, and those T)uildings are 
now fast appi'oaeliing completion. 

'I'lie Asylum ibr tliu insane is being 
lun at less expense 7:»e/* cwpiia than fm-- 
merly, and it is saiol at a less expense 
than any simihir institution in the Unit- 
ed States. I have examined int<j this 
njatter and lind that whilst the highest 
riite./)tv capita pei' week in the various 
aipylums of the L'nited States is $8.tJ8 and 
the, lowest *3.4(j, ,West Virginia is hut 
*2.45. 

Thi; co.>t ol' feeding the prismier.s at 
the Penitentiary under IJailical rule in 
ISHo was. per iupila, pel' liay, oo cents; 
under JJeniocratie rule now, 14 7ii-10(M) 
contri. The averaiic daily expense per 
capita for the live years of Iludical rule 
including 1870, was ;j7 cent.f;for the four 
years of Democratic rule, 18.] cents. 



: I •- 



Balance in favor of DeinJOcratic rule, 
one-half, or 18A 'oen't,'*.''' ■"' ' : . 

This would make a dil)"ererH(> in the 
fecdiiig of one hundred micm (mt uiir 
year of i?6,7J2 in favor of the Democracy. 

WHAT YQU.HA,XK GA1J« KD ,!!,>.■; .rjKNUlJS'G: 
DKMO^.UlATS TO (i'OX(ail!:st>. 

In 1871 for the lirnt titne otu- Stale wa- 
))artly represented in Congress by J)emn- 
crats. Up to that lime West Virginia 
had paid over tive millions of clolhir^ into 
tne tiational treasury, anrl not a dulia^'' 
was received in turn from the gencial' 
government. Since you sent Denioerat> 
to Congress our' State iias'reeeived appro- 
priatioits as folh)ws; . n':. ■ ■ , , .,i m,.;! 
,('! '.( i-. > •■ .1. J ■.;: 

Monons^aliehi river, .Tune 10, 1S72 S 2"),(Hiii 

" Mar. ,S, 1S7:^ H(i,(iiii) 

" " .Jun>-, ISTI •_'.., iKiii 

Great Kanawha liver, Mar. .'i, l.SV';.... i:.>,iiiiii 

" " " June, iS7f •_'.>,niii) 

i'arkersburg Custom House and , . . 

roslolliee, February, l.S7;.> FiO.OiHI 

.Surve\ s 1. 1' .renins Kivcr and Ka- 

na\vh;i r.i|i;ii. a.boul. oD.VIHl 

Surveys ci! Nt w, Hig'Hnnriy, (iiiyan- 

(.lolte. Twelve Pole and lal I le Ka- h. 

nawiia rivers, about ,. fl"J'Wl 

Total , s!(>t..n(i(i 

\VKS.r VIIIGIXIA WAll (L\l\l> Ai,AI\:-r 
XlIK GOVJ'JkNMKN'r. 

Tjast winter I intro'du(;ed in tiieScn:Ui' 
a bill providing that West Virginia and 
her citizens, shoukl be paid their ju-t 
claims Ibr articles taken and destroyed, 
and reimbursed for the destruction ni'' 
churches, school-houses, cdurt-hdu-o, 
bridges, «.V:e., by the Federal troops dui'ing 
the late war. During the session 1 made, 
a talk in the Senate in advocacy of thi- 
bill, which was puldished. and to whith 
I refer you for details. This bill i> still 
pending, and the j)eo|)le will send in their 
just tdaims, with proof of their autheiiti- 
tity, s(j that sonn; idea can be formed nl" 
the; amount of damages, sustained by 
them. I think we can get the Tnited 
States to pay them, 

.lAMKS KLVKU ANH KANAWU.V < \ v . 1,. 
lI.VUl'Kll'fe t'-lfliUV, AC 
III addilidii to this, your Democratic 
re])resentatives iiave secured a fiivorabli- 
report from the Senate TranspoVtati<in 
Committee on the James lliver and K'a- 
nawlnt Canal, and there are now in the 
lield .t large ]>arty of goyernnuMit civil 
engineers making surveys to find tie- 
most tlirect, j)raetical and eeonoiiiical 
route from the Uliio or Kanawha ri\er 
to the Potomac river. This route mu>t 



go through our State from East to VVcr-t 
and will he rjf iiicalculahlc valuf touf. 

We aie in a lair way to liave guvei'n- 
ine.nt aid in some Ibrin, extended lo this 
cnterprifie, and with goodworking lueni- 
V>ers from this .State, we may not only 
secure this improvement, but also liav'e 
a freight railway built aecross the State 
by the National (xovernment. We are 
promised, also, a post-otRee and eustom- 
linuse at Charleston, the Capitol of our 
Stale, which we hope soon to obtain. 
We are also in a fair way to get tlu^ 
Harper's Ferry nuiddle straiglitened. 
The Coveniment will probably take the 
property baek, and erect thereon a (iov- 
ernment paper mill, to manufacture all 
the paper used by the governmenl. Tlii- 
would give employment to a large nutii- 
ber ol' hands many more than used to be 
employed at the arsenals. 

RLTLHLKAN CAMI'AICX AliDKKSs, .oi; 
IHAKGES AUA1.ST THK DKMOCKACY. 

Let US glance now at the charges made 
against us as a paity by our iip)ionents. 
'J'he Kepublican E.vet'utive CoinmiKrc ,,',' 
this State, thi'ough the Chairman, .1. W. 
Ma-on, Esr].. has issued a cani})aign ad- 
dress, under date of June 4, 1S7I. (iov. 
Stevenson (of the State JininiKi (;f I'ar- 
kersburg), who is high Itepublican au- 
thority, in the issue of his paper of July 
M), says the address '-may be regarded 
llif-n as tlie semi-otiicial voice of the 
parly il,~>clfV The charges or com- 
plaints made in the address against the 
J)em<H'racy have been sifted down by 
(iov. Stevenson, and found to be as fol". 
lous: 

I. To refoi-m th.' judiciary. 

•J. To aboli.^h till' I'ounlv coui'i s\,-lcni, 
and 

•>. The restoration cif tiie town>iiip 
system, substantially a> we hail it undei' 
tile old con.-tilution. Thc-c three points 

<o\..|- about tile; gi-ound i oni lubMl 

in the addre-s of ijie committee. 

VaI us examine the address lor a mo- 
ment. It occupies two or three i-olunms 
of till' Jijin-iiiil, and says but littb'. Not 
a single specific ciiargc! is made, but it in- 
dulges in a kind of a rambling talk about 
the new constitution, the judiciary, counly 
courts and townships. Ildoeii sav that, 
lb.' number of oflicc-bolders in the State 
has been incieased under Democratic 
rule, but we know ilii> to be an error. 
Why 1 can reccolh'ct, and so doubtless 
can yon, wlien under itepublican rule, 
llieru were more otiiccs in some town- 



shi)is than voters, and some men held 
four and live ofKces. Jt rer/ttired then 
t/iirti/-.-<f rin iiffice-ZioMerfi to vidi a lown- 
Kliip. If 11(111% requires irss limn ^oti -third 
oj that nninber. 

The address advises Kepublicaiis in 
counties where they have jnajorities, to 
"put none but Kepublicans on guard,"' 
but where the Democrats have nuijori- 
ties, they unite with Jacob Democrats 
and any one else. The address compli- 
nicnts Gov. Jacob, and indirectly in- 
vites ins friends to unite with them' and 
tlicy will divide th(^ spoils of t.flice. 

1 have examined tlu* address right 
carefully, and would advise you all to 
rcail it, for 1 am confident 'you must 
come to the same conclusion that I did, 
namely: Tli-iit tin Dctnocratic pariij 
must hi- (ilH.ut r'i<ihl,nri'ise the I\ej)td>iicnm 
ni. li rainpaiiin. itddriss^ muld hdr.e made. 
I'lit n lirtter nisc (uidiiisf if. 1 think the 
true opposition of the Uepublican party 
to the Con.stitution is that they are for- 
ever debarred by its provisions from the 
enactment of voters', suitors', teachers" 
and lawyers' test oaths. 

■IHE KKSOL'IiSKS OK W KST VIKUINIA. 

AV'hen you consider the extent of terri- 
tory of West ^'irginia, she has no e(pial 
in this country, or in any other, in point 
of mineral wi-.illh. \Ve lia\e about 
]■"),()(>() S(|Uiire miles of good No.] coal 
wliii'h is more than any other State in 
the ITiiion can boast of, and more than 
all Europe combined, including the im- 
mense coal area of Knglaiid. In iron 
ore, salt, petroleum oil and timber our 
I'iches I'aniiot be calcumtcd, so great are 
ibey. Nearly every acre of our soil is 
well adapted f<M- agricultural purposes or 
for grazing. These assertions being true, 
as they are, what else is necessary to 
make us fulfill our destiny and beconie a 
great and powerful State' The answrr 
i> jil.'iin andsimple — developniint. And 
this, with low taxes, an economcial ad- 
ministration of States affairs, a generous 
invitation and hearty welcome to I'ap- 
itaiisls and laborers, and a libiM-al encour- 
agement to immigrants to m;ike our 
State their home, will -uirly ln' bicught 
about. 

I.KOISI.A'I I V K K.\ I'KNsKs. 

1 liavi' maile some examination into 
the expi'll.ses of the legislative bodies of 
Stales under ilcjiublican rule, and liav(! 
sehu'ted several ol about tli<! average 
wealth and jioiiulation of West Virginia, 



25 



{iiicl find tliat we are tar behind the limes. 
The table is as follows: 

Louisiana ...'. Si'i!r),772 

Arkansas ■■;jj,7H4 

California I'TTJiiT 

Mississippi ■J41,lit2 

South Carolina 2!iMiii 

Nortli Carolina ir.l.l.L' 

Alabama llJ,(i!iil 

Iowa IKSl.sO 

Florida ; 7S,:;:)() 

Conneticr.f (j7,l-i0 

West Virginia — average uiuler Dem- 
ocratic rule about 40,000 

These fignres I have taken from the 
most reliable official returns I have been 
able to procure. Included in the ex- 
penses of West Virginia is the cost of the 
long session. Our bi-ennial sessions 
hereafter will probably cost not more 
than half that amount, which would b(j 
but $10,000 per annum. 

Pt^BLlO PRINTING. 

Much has been said arid done cunoern- 
ijig the public-printing in this State, and 
tnere is now a sitit in the State courts in 
Avhich the Governor and Public Printer 
are principal parties. The Governor 
says more money has been paid for 
printing than ought to have been, and 
that frauds have been committed. The 
Public Printer answers that these charges 
are not true, and that he can and will 
prove them false before any court. And 
even if it be as the Governor alleges, he 
'(the Governor) can, or ought, to say but 
little, for the reason that many of tha 
bills were signed by himself before the 
money could be drawn from the treasury. 
Upon examination 1 find, comparing 
the population now and then, tb« public 
printing in our State costs but little more 
than under Kepublican rule. The av- 
erage now is about .$20,000 per annum. 
Under Kepublican rule it was about 
.•fl5,000. When compared with the cost 
of printing paid by the national govern- 
ment, or liy States under liepuldican 
rule, ours is greatly less. 1 will give 
you the figures in two liepublican States 
for example: 

In South Carolina last vear the public 
printing cost $589,905.22. 1 obtained 
these figures from the ofiicial report of 
the Comptroller General of that State. 
In Louisiana the public printing cost, in 
1870, $371,444, and that is about'an aver- 
of tlie cost for that State. 

TAXES IM W'KST VIRGIKIA COMPAKEr) 
WITH OTHER STATES. 

The great cry ot oppressive taxation is 
raised by our opponents and they claim 
that parties are leaving our State to avoid 
exc«^sivetaxatior As I have already 
shown, our taxe^ \y are no more than 
under Radical Riiie. ■ although we have 



had their large deficits to meet, indeed in 
many counties and districts the taxes 
are much less. As a matter of interast. 
I have prepared a table, showing the as- 
sessible property of our State and the 
taxes levied thereon for a year, and 
comparingthis with twelve representative 
Stases then ttnder Radical rule, fonr from 
the East, four from the West and four 
from the South. The figures speak so 
plainly for themselves and explode this 
fallacy of excessive Democi'atic taxation 
so completely that I forbear comments. 
The table is cumpiled from" official sour- 
ces, and is as follows: 



Assessable 
XA:.tE OF STATE. I'lOperty, 



Taxes 
Levied. 



West Virginia , 

Eastern iitates. 

^Massachusetts 

New Hampshire 

Vermont 

Maine 

Western Stal( s. 

Iowa 

Nebraska 

Illinois : 

Kansas 

Siiuthcrn States. 

IjOuisiana 

South Carolina 

Mississippi 

Arkansas 



S 140,000,000 

1,5J)1,!)«.'?,000 
14ii,000,000 
102.oI8,000 
201,203,000 

;i()2,515,000 
•")-l,.-58-l,0(K) 

482,899,000 
02,125,0001 

2-'):!,:'.71,0(W' 

ls.i.o:il,(N)(i 

177,278,000 

i 94,o28,0(H) 



J 1,722,000 

24,922,000 
3,2.35,000 
I, .547,000 
5,:^-18,000 

9,055,000 

1,027,000 

21,825,000 

2,073,000 

7,000.000 
2,770,000 
:j,730,000 
2.800.0OO 



So you will see our taxes are one-third 
less than the average of these twelve Re- 
publican States and much less than the 
average of all the States in the Union. 

CONGRESSIONAL ELECTION IN WEST VIR- 
GINIA. 

And noAV a word or two as to the out- 
rage commited upon the people of the 
First and Second Congressional Districts 
of this State in Congi-ess last winter. I 
refer to the action of Congress in refer- 
ence to the contests of Martin ve. Hagans 
and Wilson vs. Davis. I have no doubt 
the details of this infamous and hitherto 
unheard of pro(Mieding are IVesh in your 
minds, as they wei'(> thoroughly discussed 
in all the papers of the State at the time, 
yet I cannot forbear making a brief ref- 
erence to them. It was one of the most 
partisan proceedings I ever heanl of, but 
I suppose they were only following the' 
■principles laid down by Thad. Stevens, 
of whom the following anecdote is re- 
lated: 

"Some years ago, in a contested elec- 
tion case 'before the House, a fiiend of 
one of the contestants spoke to Mr. 
Thaddeus Stephens on the subject. 'Oil, 
don't argue the thing, said Mr. Stevcris, 
What is our fellow's'name? Let us vote 
for him.'" > 

Tlkere Avas at one time a belief, or 



26 



rath'jr :i hope, that the Eiidical inajurity ■ 
in the House, being considerably over 
two-thirds, would act fairly in these 
cases, but that hope was soon dispelled. 
And although the Democratic contestants 
had not only the right and law on their 
fcide, but in addition, the prestige of the 
majority report of the committee on 
Elections, consisting of eight Republi- 
cans and three democrats, A'et the Eepub- 
licans disregarding every principle of 
right, justice and law, under the leader- 
ship of Butler, gave Davis and Hagans 
their seats. Let us see for a moment 
how matters stood in our own district. I 
do not mean to discuss the question of 
the legality of the August or October 
elections. That would take up too much 
time, and besidc-s it is not necessary. I 
simply want to freshen your minds on 
the matter. In this district both the 
party conventions were so well convinced 
that' August was not the day for the 
election, that they adjourned without 
making a nomination. Then it wa-s that 
Hagans saw his opportunity, and, a few 
days before the August election, dis- 
tributed some tickets with his name on 
for Congress, and was voted for in four 
counties, receiving a little over 3,000 
votes, and all of this number of votes, 
with the exception of some 500, were cast 
for him in his own county, Monongalia, 
and the adjoining county of Preston. 
When it is remembered that thei'e arc 
eighteen counties in this district, and 
that the district is largely Democratic, 
the fact that a man receiving some 3,000 
votes — and that in four counties only — 
oiit of a voting population -of some 
2o,000 or 30,000,' is now representing that 
district in tho Congress of the United 
•States, ij enough to make us hang our 
heads in very shame. As a matter of 
interest, I append tbc vote of the two 
elections: 

At tho August election, Hagans was 
Voted for in only four counties, and re- 
ceived 3,111 votes. 

At tho October election, Martin was 
voted for in every county in the district, 
and received 5,tJ08 votes. He liad two 
llopublican opponents, AVisner, of Jierke- 
b.'V county, receiving 1,005 vot.'s, and 
Fariisworth, of Upshur county, rec(^iving 
1,321 votes. Mr. Boteler, of Jeflerson 
county, received CIO votes, and there 
were scKtturing 169 votes. 

HECEN'T ELKCTIONS. 
Our rvopublican friends tell us that 
the Democratic party is dead. "Well, I 

1 .1.: . 1 .. :» 1.^ :..i. 1.. i: i.. 



corpse at any rate. The truth of the 
matter is that the Republican party is on 
the decay. It is being buried so deep 
under an accumulated mass of corrup- 
tion, fraud, robbery, deceit and treachery 
that I doubt if it is ever again politically 
resurrected. Mj- assertion is fully cor- 
roborated by all the reeent elections. 
Turn where you will^east, west, north 
or south — and you will si^e the vast and 
growing tidal wave of political reform- 
ation sweeping over the land. Turn 
where you will and you will see largely 
increased Democratic majorities, and 
vastly diminished Republican majorities. 
For proof of what I say I have but to 
refer you to the late elections in New 
Hampshire, Connecticut, Virginia, Texas, 
AVisconsin, Arkansas and Mississippi, 
the town elections in Ohio and New 
York, and the elections just a few days 
ago in Kentucky, Tennessee and North 
Carolina. In Tennessee the civil rights 
bill was made a direct issue, and the 
result was an overwhelming victory 
for Conscrvativism and Democracy. In 
North Carolina we elect seven out of 
eight Congressmen, and have 10,000 ma- 
j(jrity in the State, when tw'o years ago 
it went for Grant. . And so it goes all 
over the country. 'T would be a sad 
commentary on our Democracy if, in the 
face of all these victories, our little State 
allows a Republican triumph by dis.-en- 
sions and bickerings in our own ranks. 
But it will not be so. I have too much 
conlidence in the good sense and wi.^di ■m 
of our party to insult them by think- 
ing so. 

In Arkansas, which is now represent- 
ed in .the United States Senate' by two 
Republican Senators, and which has 
been considered for a long time a Re- 
publican State, the recent election stood 
in favor of tho Democracy by a vote of 5 
to 1. But a few years ago the Republi- 
cans boasted that the Democrats had no 
Governor in the Northern States; indeed 
in 1870 we had but six Democratic Gov- 
ernors in the whole Union. Now we 
have seventeen. Does this look like Ix'- 
ing in the death throes of dissolution? 

ORGAyiZATIOX. 
f)rgani/ation is an essential element of 
success. Orgatii/.ation and united action 
mean a certain victory for the Democ. 
racy this fall. The Jacob party, as it is 
tailed, met in Charleston in January 
last to effete an organi/.ation. They met 
again in Clarksburg during the session 
of the Federal Court there for tho samo 
purpose, but it i« said but four or five 



■27 



Charleston they promised the people an 
address stating 'their platform of princi- 
ples, but they have failed to keep their 
promise. They also appointed a State 
Executive Committee, most of whom re- 
fused to act. Although this shov.-s that 
the faction is about played out, yet it 
also shows an attempt to keep up their 
organization. The Republicans have or- 
ganized and sent out their address, and 
wh}- not we? 

It will not do for us to go upon the as- 
sumption that the Eepublican party is 
doing nothing because they do not seem 
to be aggressive. Their idleness is but 
in seeming. They are awaiting the re- 
sults of our conventions, and if there are 
any appearances of disaffection you will 
see how readily they will take advantage 
of it. If they find us united they may 
make nominations, but it will only be 
done to keep up their organization, not 
with any hope of success. But if we 
have disaflcction in our ranks, and, trust- 
ing to our recognized superiority of num- 
bers, grow careless, they will be quick to. 
use their chance, and in counties where 
there is any hope at all, will run straight 
candidates,' and where they are in a 
hopeless minority they w-ill join the disaf- 
• fected and thus work us evil. You will thus 
see that it behooves us to be on the alert 
to make good nominations, and to pre- 
sent a united front to the enemy. Their 
only hope lies in our dissensions, if we 
have any. Tliere are or should be but 
two parties in this fight — Democrats and 
Eepublicans. Principles and not men 
should be our motto, and if we select our 
best men to represent our principles, and 
frown down all bolting and disaftection, 
our victory will be an easy one. That 
this will be the case, I have no doubt in 
my own niind, but it will do us no harm 
to guard ourselves in the manner I have 
suggested. 

Every Democrat who loves the prin- 
ciples of his party, and desires to see those 
principles triumphant, must acknowledge 
the fact that harmony is essential to suc- 
cess. Now, this is essentially true .« 
nominating conventions. Of course, 
when there are half a dozen candidates 
for the same office, but one can be chosen 
and the other five arc consequently .dis- 
appointed. But how foolish and wrong 
it is to then s et up the cry of trickery 
and fraud, and bolt the nomination. If 
y«»u submit your claims to a convention, 
you should abide by the decision of the 
majority. 

How shall we gain the victory in this 
countv and State? The answer is plain 



and simple — organize. We have the 
power if we but concentrate and utilize it. 
Attend all the primary meetings, and 
then there will be no pretext for crying 
"unfair," when some one else than our- 
selves or some particular friend receives 
the nominatioH. Above all set your foot 
right square dvivn on bolters. This cry 
uf "ring" is made simply to disorganize 
you and break up your party organiza- 
tion, and the man who takes part in a 
convention, and then because some one 
else gets the nomination, set up a howl 
of '-ring,"' "clique," &c., and announces 
himself an independent candidate, de- 
serves to be politically ostracised. 

Happily the disafie'ction that has ex- 
isted in our ranks has now an existence 
in but very few counties, and is now* al- 
most forgotten, and cannot long exist. 
Most of the disafiection existed only in 
name at any rate. The "Camden men," 
as they were called, consisted of those 
who thougli|. much more of party tradi- 
tions, represented by a nominating con- 
vention, than of any man, however great. 
Many of those who were called "Jacob 
men," doubtless believed they were fight- 
ing an improper nomination, much more 
•devotedly than they were following his 
personal or political fortunes. Bnt this is 
all past and need not now be recalled. 
We are all fighting for the same desired 
end now. AVe arc all thoroughly devot- 
ed to the great principles of our party, 
and unalterably opposed to radicalism in 
all ito forms. 

CLOSING REMARKS. 

The Demecratic party seeks to revive 
no dead issues, but stands by its princi- 
ples, supports the Eedcral government 
in all its constitutional authority; regards 
at this day as Jcft'crson did in his day 
that the true province of a Republican 
government be the protection of rights 
and not interests, defends the reserved 
rights of the State and people, and op- 
poses centralization that would impair or 
destroy the constitutional rights or inde- 
pendence of the other departments, as 
the executive and legislative departments 
under their rule,in over-slaughing the hon- 
est opinions of the Supreme Court, by in- 
creasingtheir numbers and in the appoint 
mcnt of new Judges, who arc subservient 
to the executive and legislative will; 
holds that nearer approximity that can 
be made to universal free trade, the great- 
er will be the advantages of the Federal 
government to the peopie. 

Intervention by the Federal adminis- 
tration in State policies the advancement 



28 



of its intrigues, is hostile to treodom and 
purity of elections, an insult to popular 
Fntelliccence, and merits the "^^jnan 
riprolalion of the people jealous of then 

'^' \Ve invite co-operation ■ and welcome 
to full fellou-ship in political actioiis of 
all patriotic citizens who agree ^v^h us 
ill these principles and are willing to 
unite and establish their hen eticient rule 
:, .1,^ GovPrnment of the State and na- 



ath which the Democratic 

,,. ,/^ we see the footprints of 

teiiington' Jetftrson, IvFadison AJam^ 
•vnd the heroes of the Revolution ; of 
Jackson, Clay, and all the guuus of the 
'enerution iust gondhefore us: and while 
it keeps that line of march, and be^rs the 
iiacrof the Constitution and the L nion, 
we°c;in follow it with pride and unfalter- 

'""Wela-k the members of all parties to 
unite with us in denouncing the infamous 
.cries of frauds which have disgraced 
e-erv man connected with them, or who 
las profited bv them; which have covered 
with infamy 'the party countenancing 
them, and ought tomake every man who 
attempts to defend them blush with 

"'xiie' Democratic party is now the only 
party true to the Constitution _ and the 
Union, and against centrali/.ation. We 
:,.iust not ask what m-'U have been, but 
what they are. . 

We love the principles ot our pai't> — 
those principles that have been handed 
down to us, sanctioned by the most un- 
fiplfish and most able patriots •«ho have 
lived, and under the appli.-ation o whidi 
,u,rcountrv has enjoyed the highest de- 
gree of pr.^sperity which it has ever 

known. , . , , 

Let us, therefore, stand uiuied, lianno- 
nious and conlid.Mit of perfect success, 
and will surely gain a great victory in 
the approaching campaign; such a vic- 
tory aK will redound U> -ur credit as in- 
dividuals, and to tlu! credit and g-.od ol 
the people of the whole State. 

1 have endeavored, Icllow-iMtizeiis, in 
my rambling way to deal bri-tly Nvitli 
voincof the important charge^ against 
the Kepublican parly, and tlx'y nuiy bo 
summed up as follows: 

The civil rights bill. 

The mixed hchool bill. 

Credit mobilier. 

Saiiborn-.Ianye frar.-lf. 



Oreii. iio wards robbery of the i- reed- 
man's Bureau. „ . . , , 

Discrimination in collecting internal 
revenue against the Border States. 

The large and unnecessary exp3n5es ot 
the Government. ' 

The defaulters to the Governroen., and 
the easv way in which they are let ott. 

The 'state of aftairsin Louisiana, South 
Carolina, Alabama and other Southern 
States under Republican rule. . 

The way these States have been robbed 

and plundered while under Radical ru.e. 

I The atiuirs of tlw -n-^trict rf Columbia 

and the way th- ■ :;nag- 

1 ed. ■ , 

The tendency of the -..vi i-.m-iu, under 
its present rulers, to the greatest ot a.l 
dangers, centralization. 

Grant's administration, his extrava- 
gance; his nepotism; his third term ten- 
dency. ■ , , 

I have also endeavored to show you 
what the Democrats have done in this 
State since-obtaining control, and the re- 
sults of their labors are as follows: 

The pavment of large deficits lett by 
our Republican predecessors, and a full 
treasurv without in.'rease of taxation. 

Our public works are nearly completed 
and in a prosperous condition. _• . . . 

The cost of running our public institu- 
tions largely reduced, ir, ~o!.v^ . iust-.tnces 

one-half. . , 

We have not advanced fixation in the 
State, and when compared witii other 
States under Republican rule, we are very 
far below them. 

Our legislative expenses aie gnnitly 
below those States uiid(?r Republi.an 
rule, of our average wealth and popula- 
tion, and in some ca^es not one-tenth ns 
■much. 

We have largely increased both tin' 
Irratlucible School Fund, and the Annual 
and Distributable School Fund. 

We have secured appropriations lor 
the benefit of our State from the govern- 
ment to the amount of m-arly i?oOO,(HKi. 

We have provided for hi-cnnial ses- 
sions of the Legislature, which will large- 
ly reduce expenses and consequently tax- 
ation, ice, iio., A:c. , . • • 

I owe you an apology tor detauiing 
you so long, but the subjects of which 1 
have been speaking are so numerous, and 
so much can be saidoftbeni, that I could 
find no good place to stop any sooner. 1 
thank yo.it^..''ekin,h,tie,:iiun yon have 

paid mt-. 



LB S '12 



